Fr. Richmond Nilo–CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has arrested a suspect in the brutal killing of Nueva Ecija priest Fr. Richmond Nilo.
Police arrested suspect Adell Roll Milan in Barangay Malapit, San Isidro at Nueva Ecija at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
In a press briefing in Nueva Ecija, Central Luzon Police Regional Director Chief Supt. Amador Corpus said Milan was positively identified as the gunman by one of the witnesses.
Corpus said the suspect was a former drug surrenderee and a known hitman in the province.
Milan was one of the six suspects linked to the murder of Nilo.
Corpus said the police have verified the Nissan car used during the tracking and surveillance of Nilo before his death and its verification is ongoing.
Nilo was gunned down by motorcycle-riding suspects near the altar of Barangay Mayamot chapel at Zaragosa town in Nueva Ecija at around 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Nilo, 40, was dressing up at the back of the altar to prepare for Mass when the suspects shot him through the chapel’s window.
He was the third priest and the second in Nueva Ecija to be killed in the last six months: Fr. Mark Ventura, who was gunned down after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan last April; and Fr. Marcelito Paez, who was killed a few hours after assisting the release of a political prisoner in Jaen, Nueva Ecija last December. /muf