Driver shot dead in traffic altercation

A passenger jeepney driver was shot dead allegedly by another driver, whom the victim had a heated argument over a traffic altercation in Sampaloc, Manila early yesterday morning.

The victim, Alan Cristobal, 33, married, of 2151 Reyes st., Sta. Cruz, Manila, tried to drive himself to the nearby St. Jude Hospital but crashed into a parked vehicle along the way. Passersby brought him to the hospital but he expired while undergoing treatment. He sustained a lone gunshot wound in the throat.

Case investigator SPO2 Virgo Villareal said the suspect in the shooting incident escaped driving a passenger jeepney with license plate PYE-418.

Investigation showed both drivers figured in a traffic altercation while trying to outbeat each other in picking up passengers on their way to Dimasalang street in Sampaloc. When both vehicles were stalled on a red light signal at the corner of A.H. Lacson Avenue and Laong-Laan streets, the two drivers started to curse each other. Witnesses said the victim alighted from the jeepney to confront his protagonist but was instantly fired at by the suspect. After hitting the victim, the suspect sped away on board his jeepney.

Although wounded, Cristobal drove his jeep and tried to get to the nearby St. Jude Hospital. Losing his consciousness, the victim lost control of the steering wheel and his jeepney rammed to a garbage truck parked along Dimasalang street.

Villareal said he will coordinate with the Land Transportation Office to check the identity of the jeepney owner, who could help identify Cristobal’s attacker. – Cecille Suerte Felipe and Nestor Etolle