The chief of the Quezon City Police District anti-carnapping unit was sacked and two others disarmed after Tuesday night’s fatal shooting of three sus-pected car thieves who had apparently been subdued.

Insp. Angelo Nicolas, Ancar head, was relieved of his command following the result of an investigation led by Sr. Supt. Elmo San Diego.

He said Nicolas along with SPO1 Frederick Torres and PO2 Randy Barrameda appeared to have fired “excessively” their automatic weapons on the suspects along Edsa corner NIA road.

The two policemen on video taken by an ABS-CBN television crew turned out to be Torres and Barrameda, who were in casual clothes, shooting at the suspects inside a stationary Honda Civic (AED-115); they were also restricted to camp.

Nicolas said his team only responded to a call by Mandaluyong City police and did their job of protecting innocent lives.

His unit was largely responsible for cleaning Quezon City of its image as carnapping capital of the Philippines.

Lawmakers would be inquiring into the shooting notwithstanding a probe by the Commission on Human Rights.

Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon said there was no need for a complaint to start an investigation while Senator Francis Joseph Escudero wanted a full and detailed police account.

“If this happened [on] Edsa, then it is chilling to imagine [when] the police encounter suspects on secondary roads and dark alleys,” he said in a statement.

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tanada III, chairman of the House committee on human rights, said the police rules on engagement would be scrutinized. Joel M. Sy Egco, Christina F. Herrera, AFP