Before turning into a monster, he was last seen “dancing, singing and drinking” with one of his future victims.
This was how witnesses remembered Rolly Rapit, 33, before the seaman went amuck in his neighborhood at Tierra Nova Royale Subdivision in Barangay (village) 171, Bagumbong, Caloocan City, on Sunday night.
Believed to be driven by jealousy, Rapit’s shooting rampage using a 9-mm pistol left four people dead. They included his live-in partner Eden de la Cruz, the first victim whom he killed in their house; Arnold Dizon, a 32-year-old birthday celebrator who was throwing an outdoor party nearby; and neighbors Elizabeth Templonuevo and her son Benjamin III, 17.
By the time Rapit was arrested an hour later, he had also wounded four other people, including another teenager.
Interviewed by the Inquirer two days after the tragedy, the grieving families recounted the horror—one that turned a groom-to-be into a killer and a feast into a bloodbath—in stark detail. They were still at a loss, though, on how a friendly, longtime neighbor could suddenly snap just like that.
“He looked as if he had gone mad or was on drugs when he came out and started shooting,” said Benjamin Templonuevo Jr., a tricycle driver who lost his wife and a son in the shooting.
Still in shock, Dizon’s widow, Janice, said “Rolly was even celebrating, dancing, singing and drinking with us at my husband’s birthday party. I never thought he could do this to us.”
Templonuevo and Dizon said they saw Rapit leave Arnold’s party and return to his house around 10 p.m. that night. “Minutes later, we heard some shouting, then three gunshots. That was when he killed Eden,” Templonuevo said.
Police later gathered that the live-in partners had an argument: He suspected her of seeing another man.
“Rolly was supposed to report back to his ship later this month. The two had been planning to get married before he boards the ship again. But this happened,” Dizon said.
An earlier Inquirer report said Rolly turned to Dizon’s birthday party after the first kill. But it turned out that he actually found his next victims in another outdoor birthday party in the subdivision that night.
With Eden dead, Rapit went out and saw a group of teenagers having a drink next to his house. It was in this other gathering that he encountered the sleeping Benjamin III and 15-year-old Jover Ricana.
“He shouted out loud: ‘I’ve already killed my partner. You’re next, all of you!’” Templonuevo said.
Ricana managed to step back and run for a few meters upon seeing the armed Rapit, but he was still shot by the seaman despite pleading with him: “Kuya Rolly, Kuya Rolly, don’t do it!”
Rapit’s next shot was for Benjamin III.
Rapit then walked toward the Templonuevos’ bungalow, where Elizabeth, roused by the shots, stood guard at the entrance to the house, protecting her three other children inside. She took two shots to the chest.
3 magazines emptied
Janice Dizon picked up the chilling narrative from here: “When my husband (Arnold) heard the commotion, he went outside and tried to stop Rolly, who was his friend. But instead of calming down, Rolly snarled back at my husband and fired at him.”
Pending a complete account of the carnage, it appeared that Rapit aimed at specific targets and also fired indiscriminately after stepping out of his house, for the police said he actually used up three magazines that night. The bullets that hit Arnold were from the last.
Finally out of ammo, Rapit ran away from the crime scene and pistol-whipped three more people he encountered on the street. He was arrested an hour later when policemen saw him trying to board a jeepney on Bagumbong Road.
Rapit faces charges for four counts of murder, three counts of frustrated murder, serious physical injuries and illegal possession of firearms for his unlicensed 9-mm pistol.
Dizon’s wish now is simple: “If only I could see him sentenced to death four times, for the people he killed that night.”