Saturday, March 03, 2007 Carjackers kill cop By Reynaldo G. Navales
MABALACAT -- A police officer was shot dead while his two companions were wounded when six suspected carjackers they were chasing along the national road in Barangay Lakandula here opened fire at them using M-16 Armalite rifles.
Chief Inspector Jovencio Flores, deputy police chief, identified the lone fatality as Police Officer 2 Albert Dimla Limbania, of Roxas Street, Dau, this town.
Flores said Limbania died on the spot after sustaining head injuries.
Two other police officers, Police Officer 3 Dante Almario and Police Officer 1 Francisco Baculi, on the other hand suffered shrapnel wounds from the debris of the blown windows of the police officers' patrol car and the suspects' Starex van.
Before the shootout, the three police officers caught up with the suspects near the boundary of barangays Lakandula and Balibago. However, the criminals suddenly shot the responding lawmen, according to Flores.
Limbania and the two other cops established a "checkpoint" along the McArthur Highway in Barangay Camachiles before the incident occurred.
This came after Superintendent Melchor V. Reyes, town's chief of police, ordered a massive operation against carjackers on board a Starex van who have been operating in the province for more than one month now.
The three cops spotted a Starex van which they chased until reaching an area near the boundary of the town and nearby Angeles City, where the shooting transpired.
Police said the gunmen might be responsible for the carjacking of a Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up truck in Barangay Atlu-Bola at dawn on Thursday.
After the shooting of the cops, the suspect fled towards the North Luzon Expressway via the Angeles City tollgate.
But the suspects' van was recovered by the responding cops at the Mountain View Subdivision in Barangay Balibago, it was learned.
Witnesses later told police that the suspects used another get-away vehicle, a maroon Toyota Hi-Ace van.
