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.