Cop kills man who stabbed fellow bus passenger in Davao

DAVAO CITY — A 41-year-old man who stabbed a fellow passenger inside a bus was shot dead by police here on Tuesday, authorities said.

Junie Singson Lucenio was gunned down by an armed traffic cop. Police said Lucenio attacked the officer when he was arrested for attacking a certain Joel Salazar, 33, along the Buhangin Diversion Road at 7:30 a.m., according to Chief Insp. Peter John Muring, Buhangin police precinct chief.

Both the victim and the suspect were aboard a Golden Valley bus bound for the Davao City overland terminal in Ecoland village when Lucenio suddenly lunged a knife at Salazar, wounding him in the head, Muring told the Inquirer by mobile phone.

“According to witnesses, the two quarreled over a seat when the suspect pulled a knife and stabbed the victim,” he said.

Muring said Lucenio was apparently mentally unstable. During the incident, Lucenio was with a relative on his way to the bus terminal.

“Two days ago, he became agitated prompting his kin to bring him to his hometown in Leyte,” Muring said, quoting the suspect’s kin.

Lucenio was shot outside the bus when he attacked and tried to wrestle the firearm of an officer, Muring said.

Salazar, the wounded passenger, is now undergoing treatment at a local hospital, Muring said. FRINSTON LIM/lb