Suspected accomplice in Percy Lapid slay dies during arrest

Trigger warning: Suicide

MANILA, Philippines — The alleged accomplice in the killing of broadcaster Percival Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid, died on Sunday morning during an operation carrying out his arrest. 

In an interview with SuperRadyo DZBB on Sunday afternoon, National Capital Region Police Director Jose Nartatez Jr. said that the co-conspirator of self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial shot himself in the bathroom in Lipa City, Batangas during the operation. 

“Nagbaril po siya sa sarili niya in-front of the negotiator at ng pinsan niya,” Nartatez said in an interview with DZBB. 

(He shot himself in front of the negotiator and his cousin.)

The man was initially identified by the alias "Orly." Police later confirmed his identity as Jake Mendoza, 40 years old.

During the police raid, Nartatez said that Mendoza held his live-in partner and child as hostages.

The authorities then asked some family members of Mendoza to talk him out of the situation, which resulted in the release of the woman and the child.

Afterward, he went to the bathroom and shot himself, according to Nartatez. 

In October 2022, Mabasa was shot and killed on his way home in Las Piñas City.

In May 2024, Escorial, who claimed that the order to kill Lapid came inside the New Billibid Prison, was sentenced to eight years up to 16 years of imprisonment.

It could be recalled that the gunman turned himself into the authorities a few days after Lapid's shooting, during which he also implicated former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag.

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