A senior Philippine police officer was relieved of his command yesterday and two others disarmed after the fatal shooting of three alleged car thieves who had apparently already been subdued by police.
Senior Superintendent Elmo San Diego, who is heading an investigation into the shooting, told a press conference that Inspector Angelo Nicolas “had been relieved” of his command.
Nicolas was head of the Quezon City police district’s anti-car theft unit and led a police team that shot three alleged car thieves with automatic weapons on a busy street in Manila on Tuesday night.
DESK JOBS
The other two policemen also involved in the shooting have been disarmed and they have been confined to office duties, San Diego said.
The shooting was filmed by a local television crew who were in the area at the time.
OUTRAGE
The incident has outraged human rights activists and the independent Commission on Human Rights has already launched an investigation.
The video, shot by an ABS-CBN television crew, shows policemen in plain clothes armed with assault rifles firing at the suspects at point blank range.
Police claimed there was a car chase and a firefight, and that those killed were members of a notorious gang of thieves, local media reported.
The video footage showed the vehicle, which had already stopped, with two suspects inside and another sprawled on the ground next to the vehicle.
All of them appeared to be motionless.
SHOOTING
Policemen could then be seen running toward the vehicle and firing straight at the three alleged car thieves.
It was not clear whether they were already dead.
San Diego said initial findings into the shooting had shown “glaring violations” of police operational procedures.
VIOLATIONS
These violations included excessive firing of weapons and not wearing proper uniforms, San Diego said.
San Diego said that the initial findings would have to be backed by evidence and witness testimonies before a formal inquiry could ber ordered.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese