Criminology student kills Manila cop

MANILA, Philippines - A criminology student who shot dead a Manila Police District (MPD) policeman was himself killed by the victim’s colleague an hour later yesterday afternoon.  

Police Officer 1 Ramuel de la Cruz, 26, of MPD Station 2 was chasing a suspected snatcher along A. Rivera street at around 1:30 p.m. when, upon reaching the corner of C.M. Recto Avenue, the man he was chasing turned around and shot him with a homemade 12-gauge shotgun.

Witnesses said Frederick Gelito, 23, a student at the Philippine College of Criminology, reportedly shot De la Cruz in the back as the lawman was trying to arrest him and an unidentified accomplice, who escaped.

De la Cruz was declared dead upon arrival at the Metropolitan Memorial Medical Center.

Gelito tried to flee but was arrested by MPD Station 11 policemen who also responded to the scene. Investigators learned Gelito had been holding a grudge against De la Cruz, who had accosted him in the past.

About an hour later, when Gelito was brought out of MPD Station 11 in Binondo to undergo a medical check-up, he reportedly tried to grab the .9mm of PO3 Marlon Eusebio.

Eusebio’s partner, SPO1 Nicanor Zablan, shot Gelito, who died on the way to the Mother and Child Hospital. Zablan and Eusebio will be investigated about Gelito’s death.

Witnesses said they heard three gunshots when Gelito was escorted outside the police station.

PO2 Fernando Lagando of Station 11 and PO3 Jupiter Tajonera, of the MPD’s homicide investigation section, are handling the investigation.