Cop kills suspect in ex-seaman's slay

MANILA, Philippines - An off-duty member of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force shot dead a man suspected of killing a former seaman in Tondo, Manila Monday afternoon.

Police Officer 1 Carlito Leoncio Jr., 28, detailed at the Second Special Action Battalion at Subic Bay Free Zone, was resting in his house at Dagupan Extension, Tondo when neighbors asked him to help catch a man who allegedly gunned down former seaman Alfredo Gutierrez, 56, at a nearby basketball court along Yuseco street.

Leoncio joined a group of men chasing the suspect, 60-year-old Antonio Pido, who boarded a passing passenger jeepney after the shooting. When the jeepney became stuck in traffic, Pido commandeered a passing Nellet cab (TWT-510) while firing at his pursuers.

Leoncio identified himself to Pido as a policeman and asked him to surrender peacefully, but the suspect shot at him. Leoncio retaliated, and at the end of the shootout, Pido lay dead at the driver’s seat of the cab.

Senior Police Officer 1 Gerardo Rivera said Pido sustained gunshot wounds in the head. Rivera also recovered Pido’s .45 caliber pistol and two shells at the basketball court. Gutierrez was taken by his neighbors to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center but he died while undergoing treatment for a bullet wound in the chest.

Leoncio surrendered himself and his service firearm, a .40 caliber pistol, at the homicide section of the Manila Police District.

Homicide section chief Inspector Armando Macaraeg said the shooting at the basketball court stemmed from a family feud between Gutierrez and Pido. He said homicide charges are now being prepared against Leoncio.