Special Action Force cop kills jeepney robber, saves wounded passenger

MANILA, Philippines - A police officer shot dead a suspected robber who fired his gun in an Alabang-bound jeepney traveling the South Luzon Expressway in Parañaque early yesterday morning.

Police Officer 2 Rogelio Eslaw, 36, a member of the Special Action Force, told police he was seated behind the jeepney’s front seat when the suspect fired his .38 caliber revolver and ordered the driver to slow down.

In a phone interview, Eslaw, who was on his way to his unit in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, said when the shot awakened him, he saw the bullet had grazed the forehead of passenger Jacklyn Alcaraz, 25, who was seated beside him.

On impulse, he jumped to his feet, grabbed the suspect’s hand, pulled out his .9mm pistol, and shot him in the stomach, he added.

The gunfire panicked the passengers, who jumped out after the driver had stopped the jeepney. A passenger, Jerryl Basila, 22, was crawling bloodied on the expressway after he had earlier jumped from the moving jeepney.

Seeing the suspect incapacitated, Eslaw took the wheel and brought Basila and the wounded suspect to the South Superhighway Medical Center. The suspect was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

“I did not notice if there were other robbers inside the jeepney,” Eslaw said.

“I was just focused on the robber with the gun in front of me. I realized later that if there were other armed robbers inside the jeepney, I could have been killed.”

Police are still trying to determine if the slain robber had companions, and if any of the passengers were robbed of their valuables.

Police Officer 1 Richard Sisneros said the jeepney that had come from Pasay City was cruising the SLEX at about 5 a.m. when the suspect declared the heist.