Reporter Trajano was killed in crossfire during a police raid of an alleged organized crime den near Manila, according to local and international news reports.
Members of the group, which was suspected of drug trafficking and theft, opened fire on police during the 2:30 a.m. raid in Taytay Town, Rizal province, according to the reports. Trajano and a police officer were fatally wounded; a suspect was also killed when police returned fire. Trajano, who had accompanied police in his role as a crime reporter for the local newspaper Remate, was pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the reports.
Police detained six people following the raid but said that at least two suspects, including the group’s alleged leader, had evaded arrest, according to the GMA News Web site.