QCPD director Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan Jr. identified the fatalities as Peter Bautista, the alleged leader of a carjacking group named after him, and Adriano Hernandez.
Both suspects, Radovan said, had been included in the police order of battle in the intensified campaign against car theft and carjacking incidents.
He said the suspects had been the subject of a two-week surveillance by the QCPD’s anti-car theft division and District Intelligence and Investigation Division, headed by Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza.
Initial reports revealed that Bautista and Hernandez, aboard a dark colored Hyundai Starex van (CSD-826), were flagged down by officers on Scout Alcaraz street in Barangay Maharlika at around 6 p.m.
"They were being flagged down because their van was identified as a ‘hot car,’" Radovan said.
The suspects ignored the officers, resulting in a brief chase. They were forced stop when another vehicle blocked their path.
The two suspects quickly alighted from the van and started firing at the QCPD operatives, resulting in a firefight. One was armed with a 9mm machine pistol and the other with a caliber .38 revolver.
When the smoke cleared, Bautista and Hernandez lay wounded some 50 meters from their van at the corner of Alcaraz and Kanlaon streets.
They were taken to the Orthopedic Hospital, where they died while being treated.
"The killing of the two is justified in this case because they engaged our police operatives in a shootout. Although it would have been better if we could have captured them and interrogated them about carjacking groups," Radovan said.