Ryan Concuera, 22, alias Boy Mental and a Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gangman, denied involvement in the killing of Charlene Santos, 27, saying he was somewhere else when the crime took place.
However, Senior Superintendent Romeo Abaring, Pasig City police officer-in-charge, said Concuera was positively identified by the FX taxi driver as the man who shot Santos in the nape with a caliber .45 automatic pistol.
Three armed men held up passengers of a Makati-bound AUV taxi on Ortigas Avenue in Barangay Rosario at 6:45 p.m. last Sunday.
Santos was shot dead for refusing to yield her cell phone.
Abaring said his men have contacted other passengers of the taxi to help identify Concuera, who is detained at the Pasig City police detention center. "We are now preparing robbery with homicide charges against the suspect," Abaring said.
Concuera was sleeping when Abaring’s men raided his house at the Rodriguez compound in Tramo, Barangay Rosario, Pasig City at 8:30 p.m. last Monday.
Police were able to identify the shooter after witnesses picked him out from photos of known criminals.
No evidence was found in against Concuera’s house.
"It appears the gang has already sold the belongings they took from the passengers, including the victim’s cell phone," the Pasig police chief said.
Abaring said Concuera has a standing arrest warrant issued by Judge David Mirando Jr. of Pasig City regional trial court Branch 71 for robbery-holdup and frustrated homicide.
Mirando had set a P124,000 bail for his temporary liberty.
"Hindi ako magkakamali. Siya talaga ang bumaril sa biktima. Malapit lang ang mukha niya kaya hindi ko siya makalimutan," said the driver, who was in tears as he lashed out at the suspect.
The driver wore a cap and sunglasses to hide his identity
"Natatakot ang driver na baka balikan siya ng grupo ni Concuera subalit nanaig ang galit niya sa kanila at awa niya sa pamilya ni Santos," Abaring said.
The driver narrated that the suspects had divested passengers of their cell phones, wallets and other belongings and were rushing out of his gray Mitsubishi Adventure when Concuera noticed Santos hiding something in her hand.
Concuera returned to the vehicle and demanded that Santos hand over her cell phone. She pleaded to Concuera not to take her phone.
One of Concuera’s companions told him to shoot her.
"Putukan mo na ‘yan at sobrang maingay," the driver quoted one of the robbers as saying.
The trio casually walked away from the scene.
The driver said Concuera was then wearing a bull cap to hide his long hair.
The driver rushed Santos to the Pasig City General Hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival from a gunshot wound in the nape.
Police said the suspect, who sported several tattoos in his body, started at his life of crime when he was 18 years old.
"Pabalik-balik iyan dito sa kulungan namin," one policeman said.