UPDATE: Gunman slain, 2 others hurt in Cotabato City shootout
Breaking News • 18:45 PM Wed Jan 15, 2020
1
By:
John M. Unson
Police probe the vehicle where a gunman was killed and another was wounded following shootout at 3 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2020 in Cotabato City.
COTABATO CITY - A gunman was killed while two others were wounded in a mysterious shootout with another group in a busy spot in a commercial district in Cotabato at past 3:00 PM today.
Two 1911 .45 caliber pistols and spent bullet shells were found inside the car carrying the slain gunman.
In a report submitted to Police Colonel Portia Manalad, city police director, Maj. Glenn Mar B Avisa, Police Station 1 chief, said the shootout started at about 3:20 p.m. along Raja Tabunaway Boulevard, particularly in front of Nurharris Junk Shop, where a man alighted from Honda civic car and shot Johnity Kubato, 39, a resident of Rosary Heights 7, Cotabato City.
Avisa said the alleged suspects were identified as Suharto Kasim Panalangin, 32, driver of Honda sedan and a resident of Barangay Poblacion 5, Cotabato City and Asraf Bajunaid, 50, a resident of Barangay Bagua-1, also in Cotabato City.
Police investigators said the armed Kubato, despite his injuries, also traded shots with the suspects in the car as they fled toward Jose Lim Street from Raja Tabunaway Boulevard.
Kubato chased Panalangin and Bajunaid and traded shots with them until the car stopped in the middle of the road.
Avisa said responding police from station 1, located two blocks away, rushed the injured (Kubato and Panalangin) to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) while the slain Bajunaid was left at the back-seat of the car.
Police crime scene investigators found two cal. 45 pistols inside the car (LGZ-745) along with empty shells.