ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 27, 2011) – Police clashed with two suspected hired killers who shot and wounded a couple in a daring attack Tuesday evening at a crowded market in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said one of the gunmen, Melvin Mendoza, was killed and his companion, Johnny Mendoza, is wounded following a shootout with policemen guarding the LB Supermarket in the village of Tumaga.
The wounded couple – Wilbert and Jovelyn Buendia – was rushed to hospital under tight security. They were shot with .45-caliber pistol in the body.
“It’s been really a hot engagement between the gunmen and the police force and luckily our policemen were not injured in the shootout,” said police station commander, Chief Inspector Felix Martinez.
He said the motive of the attack is still unknown.
Martinez said the couple, despite being wounded in the attack, managed to ran away from pursuing gunmen until policemen arrived and engaged the assailants in a shootout. It was not immediately known whether the gunmen were behind the spate of killings in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
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