photo: LTO
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is expected to file on Monday, March 31, cases of frustrated murder and violation of the Omnibus Election Code against the sports utility vehicle (SUV) driver in viral road rage shooting in Antipolo City.
Police Brig. Gen. Paul Kenneth Lucas, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 4A, explained that the circumstances leading to the shooting fall under frustrated murder as the SUV driver was seen shooting the two motorcycle riders who beat him up.
A total of eight cartridges were recovered from the scene, which indicated that the driver fired his gun eight times.
Lucas said the violation of the Omnibus Election Code stemmed from the fact that the SUV driver has no exemption to carry his gun from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), although the firearm is licensed.
“We we saw that he was carrying a firearm and he fired not once but several times. We will be filing the case today (Monday),” said Lucas.
The suspect, a 28-year old businessman, from Quezon City, is currently detained at the Antipolo City Police Station.
Self-defense?
Netizens have expressed different views on the viral video of road rage which happened at around 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, in Sitio Calumpang in Barangay San Jose in Antipolo City, which the viral video referred to as Boso-Boso.
Some of the netizens said that what the shooter did was an act of self defense since at least two motorcycle riders were seen ganging up on him.
Lucas said he would leave it to the lawyer of the SUV driver whether or not the shooting was an act of self defense.
Antipolo City police chief Lt. Col. Ryan Manongdo said the SUV driver was already carrying the gun inside a sling bag even during his verbal tussle with the two motorcycle riders.
“I don’t know if this would be positive or negative because he could have drawn the gun earlier,” said Manongdo as he stressed that the court will finally decide on the matter.
The trigger
Citing the initial result of the investigation which includes videos taken prior to the confrontation, Manongdo said it appears that the SUV driver was driving recklessly.
“The suspect came from a private resort with his family while the group of motorcycle riders came from a tourist spot in Tanay. It was in the Boso-Boso area where the misunderstanding started to happen,’ said Manongdo.
“Based on the available materials from the social media, the SUV driver appeared to be reckless and he was chased by the riders,” he added.
Manongdo said the driver of the SUV was heading back to the private resort as an important personal belonging of one of his family members was missing and was believed to have been left in the area.
Two of the motorcycle riders seen beating the SUV driver turned out to be relatives, a father and his son.
One of them is in critical condition.
Aside from three motorcycle riders, the girlfriend of the suspect was also hit on the leg.
“This is really a case of road rage, it was not planned. It’s a road rage, a burst of emotion with a wrong reaction,” said Manongdo.
LTO starts probe
Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said he already ordered the agency’s Intelligence and Investigation Division to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident in order to find out what triggered the scuffle and eventually the shooting incident.
The result of the investigation, according to Mendoza, will serve as the basis for the action of the LTO, including the possibility of driver’s license revocation.
The LTO already issued a show cause order (SCO) on all the motorists involved as part of the investigation.
In the SCO issued on the SUV driver and one of the motorcycle riders, it was stated that their driver’s licenses were suspended for 90 days pending the result of the investigation while the SUV and the motorcycle were placed under alarm.