Camanava cop killer falls

After more than a year in hiding, the long arm of the law finally caught up with a cop killer, the 9th in the police’s 10 most wanted list, in his house in Malabon, authorities reported yesterday.

In his report to Chief Superintendent Noe Wong, Northern Police District Office (NPDO) chief, Superintendent Sotero Ramos, District Police Intelligence Unit (DPIU) identified the suspect as Christopher Fernandez alias "Thopec," 39, married, a construction worker, a native of Samar and resident of Barangay Catmon.

Fernandez was wanted by the law for the killing of PO2 Amando Villanueva of the Malabon Drug Enforcement Unit and was arrested at around 12:40 p.m. yesterday by DPIU operatives on the strength of a warrant issued by Malabon RTC (Branch 170) Judge Benjamin Antonio.

Records showed Fernandez, together with five others who remain at large, attacked Villanueva in the early morning of Nov. 4, 2003 and stabbed him in the back as he was about to board a passenger jeepney on Gov. Pascual Avenue, Gulayan, Concepcion, Malabon City.

Although wounded, Villanueva still managed to draw his service firearm and fire several shots at his fleeing assailants. The cop still gave chase, but the suspects made good their escape in the dark and narrow alleyways of the neighborhood.

Witnesses later saw Villanueva coming out of an alley clutching his back before slumping unconscious to the pavement. He was taken to the Chinese General Hospital, but died while being treated. – With Pete Laude