Suspect in kidnap-slay of South Cotabato teen killed while resisting police invitation

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines — Policemen in Isulan shot dead past dawn on Thursday the stepfather suspected of kidnapping and killing a 16-year-old girl.

The body of the high school student Notre Dame of Banga was found near an irrigation dike in Barangay Punong Grande in Banga town in South Cotabato on Wednesday.

A police team was going to invite Richard Romo Gumilid, 31, for him to shed light on allegations that he had something to do with the girl's death. He was reportedly shot because he pulled a grenade out of his pocket.

Officials of the South Cotabato provincial police said the girl's friends and relatives reported that Gumilid was a live-in partner of her mother.

Witnesses have confirmed to the Banga municipal police having seen Gumilid and three others abduct the victim near the school campus early on.

Gumilid reportedly disappeared from Banga after the kidnapping incident.

The police operation that led to his death was launched after barangay officials in Barangay Kalawag II in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat, reported his presence there after learning from social media that he was a suspect in the murder.

A team of investigators from the provincial police offices in Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato provinces are still looking into the motive for the abduction and murder,

Police are still trying to locate Gumilid's three accomplices, according to the Police Regional Office-12.