Fugitive cop kills pedicab driver

MANILA, Philippines - A policeman wanted for the killing of a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Highway Patrol Group (HPG) a couple of months ago shot dead a pedicab driver in Tondo, Manila on Saturday.

Initial investigation showed that pedicab driver Kim Tanyag, 25, was having a conversation with his friends along Katamanan and Guerrero streets in Tondo, Manila at around 3:30 p.m. when Police Officer 2 Rommel Fortuno, driving a motorcycle, approached and shot him.

Witnesses said Fortuno, formerly with the Caloocan City Police, kept on shooting Tanyag even if the latter was already sprawled on the pavement. The victim was pronounced dead on arrival at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Investigators recovered three .9mm shells and three slugs from the crime scene. 

Inspector Maying dela Cruz, Manila Police District homicide division deputy chief, told The STAR that Fortuno is being hunted for killing SPO1 Rodrigo Llagas Cortez, Jr., of the PNP-HPG, in February.

Dela Cruz said Tanyag was a cousin of Fortuno’s former live-in partner, “Cindy,” and got the ire of the suspect when he refused the latter’s request to get his x-ray result. He said Fortuno had been hitting Cindy, who eventually left him and decided to live with Cortez. Cindy and Fortuno, according to dela Cruz, have two children. 

Fortuno allegedly killed Cortez in Sta. Cruz, Manila and his former live-in partner identified him as the culprit. Dela Cruz said the suspect went into hiding after killing Cortez but had been trying to locate Cindy and had verbally threatened Tanyag.