MANILA: Authorities have arrested the suspect in the shooting of an elderly family driver in a road rage incident along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Makati City.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. identified the suspect as Gerrard Raymond Yu, who was arrested in Pasig City at about 7 a.m. Wednesday.
‘The arrested suspect was positively identified by the eye witness to the actual shooting incident. A follow-up investigation led to the suspect’s residence in Riverside Village, Pasig City. Intelligence operatives immediately proceeded to the location of the suspect and effected his arrest,” Abalos said in a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Wednesday.
He said a black Mercedes Benz with Plate No. DAD 9670 was also found in the suspect’s residence.
Found inside the vehicle was Plate No. BCS 77, the plate number used by the suspect when the shooting incident occurred, along with two Taurus .40-caliber pistols.
Abalos said the seized fi
rearms were brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Forensic Group for ballistic examination while the suspect’s paraffin test yielded a positive result for gunpowder nitrate.
He added that one of the seized firearms matched the recovered fired cartridge case from the crime scene based on the result of the ballistic examination.
Based on the police report, a Toyota Innova with Plate No. NCV 542 driven by the victim, 65-year-old Aniceto Mateo, was traveling along EDSA’s southbound lane on Tuesday afternoon when he got into an altercation with Yu, the driver of the Mercedes Benz, near the Ayala Tunnel.
Yu allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Mateo, who died on the spot.
The suspect sped off towards Makati while the victim lost control of the vehicle, hitting several motorcycles.
Aboard the victim’s vehicle were Marites Valmorio, 47, a household worker, and a minor, who were both unharmed. They were on their way home to Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City.
They immediately alighted the vehicle and soug
ht help.
Meanwhile, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francsico Marbil said he ordered the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) to solve the incident within 24 hours.
“Nakita naman talaga yung plate number but yung naging challenge is yung plate number na yun hindi na registered doon sa tao (The plate number was seen but the challenge was the plate number is not registered to the person). So, what happened? A backtracking was made and it was so difficult but it was later found in Pasig. That’s (the) beauty of using CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage and we commend the expertise of the RD (regional director Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez) of NCRPO,” he said.
Nartatez said the suspect would be charged with murder.
‘As of now, the investigation is continuing but we are sure that he would be charged with murder on that shooting incident and in some other cases, if these firearms had been used in different unsolved cases. We would know as these firearms will be subjected to ballistics,’ he added.
Source
: Philippines News Agency