Police show photo of alleged gunman in Percy Lapid shooting
MANILA, Philippines — Police said Friday they have identified a person of interest in the fatal shooting of radio broadcaster and prominent government critic Percy Lapid.
Using CCTV footage taken along the route of Lapid to his broadcast studio before he was shot and dashboard camera video from the broadcaster’s vehicle, police presented at a news conference an image of the alleged gunman.
The supposed gunman was first seen in footage walking near the city hall of Las Piñas wearing a pink jacket. Another man, who police identified as the driver of the motorcycle that carried the gunman, was seen sitting on the sidewalk along the road before he stood up when Lapid’s vehicle passed by.
“The video that I showed earlier, you would see that markings on his t-shirt matched that of the person on the motorcycle behind the victim’s car seconds before he was shot as seen in dashcam footage,” said the head of the task force investigating Lapid’s killing, PCol. Restituto Arcangel, in Filipino.
With the image of the alleged shooter now out in public, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos is asking him to surrender.
“A lot of people know who you are. A lot of people would rat you out. Maybe you should surrender. It is very important that you surrender because the masterminds behind this might do something terrible to you. The best thing to do is to surrender and let the police take over,” Abalos said.
Lapid, whose real name is Percival Mabasa, was shot dead Monday night while he was driving to his studio in a subdivision in Las Piñas City.
Lapid’s shooting is the second killing of a journalist under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and has been widely condemned as an attack on press freedom. — Xave Gregorio
READ: Makabayan bloc urges House to condemn killing of broadcaster Percy Lapid
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