ANGELES CITY, Pampanga — Police have arrested two civilian suspects in the shooting incidents during a violent demolition operation on residential houses in Barangay Anunas in this city on Tuesday.

This was confirmed to ARKIPELAGO NEWS by Col. Amado Mendoza, police chief of Angeles City.

Five residents in the area suffered gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies and were rushed to hospitals for medical treatments, Mendoza said.

Three of the five victims have positively identified the two suspects as the ones who fired their guns on them, the police chief said.

Police recovered from the suspects the guns they allegedly used in the shooting incidents and subjected it for ballistic examinations together with the slugs recovered from the bodies of the victims, Mendoza noted.

Meanwhile, police operatives who were present during the demolition operations were subjected for paraffin tests and their guns for gunpowder residues, the police chief added.

As these developed, the Angeles City Information Office has reported that City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. has strongly condemned in strongest terms the shooting of several residents during the demolition operations on Tuesday in Sitio Balubad, Barangay Anunas in the said city.

Mayor Lazatin has announced that the local government unit of Angeles will press charges against those who attacked the hapless unarmed civilians in the surprise demolition conducted by armed men.

The victims. were rushed to the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Hospital, while the two reportedly in critical condition were brought to the Jose B. Lingad Hospital in the City of San Fernando.

After the series of surprise demolitions, the Angeles LGU said it will proceed with the expropriation of the contested land to bring peace in the area, which is adjacent to the bustling Korean Town and the Clark Freeport Zone.

A mapping conducted by the Angeles LGU had indicated that there were 535 households and around 2,000 families at Sitio Balubad, Barangay Anunas.

Clarkhills had claimed ownership of the contested land after the Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) of residents had been cancelled., the LGU report added.

📷: Angeles City Police Office