3 suspects in Isabela 'shooting' arrested

ILAGAN, Isabela – Three suspects in a shooting incident which resulted in the killing of a policeman and the wounding of another on Aug. 1 have been arrested and are now in police custody, reports said.

But Senior Supt. Dominador Aquino, provincial police director, neither confirmed nor denied allegations that the suspects, including one or more who remain at large, and whose identities were withheld pending further investigation, were aides of a local official here.

“What I can only say is that the suspects and the victims apparently knew each other,” he said, adding they were still investigating the motives behind what the authorities described as a “shooting incident” without the police firing a single shot.

According to reports, the policemen were driving back to Alicia town proper when their vehicle was suddenly cut by the suspects’ black Toyota Innova van.
The suspects then disembarked and sprayed the vehicle with bullets from an M16 Armalite rifle and then later fled.

The fatality, one PO3 Jonathan Abuan, was shot in the head by bullets coming from an M16 Armalite rifle while his colleague, SPO2 Ludivico Delmendo sustained serious gunshot wounds on the left arm and buttocks. A third companion, SPO3 Nacasio Bautisa, was unhurt. The cops were reportedly returning from a cockpit when they were waylaid by the suspects that evening. -- CL