Driver dies behind the wheel

A jeepney driver was shot and killed as he was driving on a major thoroughfare on Sunday night in Quezon City.

Alexander Galvez, 42, died on the spot after he took four bullets to the head near the Fairview Central Market on Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay (village) Greater Fairview.

Case investigator PO2 Louie Serbito said one of two men on a motorcycle shot the victim when the jeepney stopped in front of the market.

The police said they were looking at the possibility that Galvez might have been killed over a traffic altercation.

The victim, a resident of Barangay Bagong Silang in Caloocan City, was driving his jeepney (NYA 348) on the westbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue when he stopped in front of the market at 10:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Two men on a motorcycle suddenly sped by the driver’s side, stopping for a split second. The driver of the motorcycle then pulled out a handgun and shot Galvez.

The back rider got off the motorcycle and hailed a bus while the driver of the motorcycle made a U-turn and sped toward SM Fairview.

Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the back rider might have been caught off guard by what the gunman did.

“This may be why the back rider got off the motorcycle and got on a bus. Otherwise, he had a better chance of escaping if he had just stayed on the motorcycle,” he added.

Police are now looking for the motorcycle which had the control number 1483, according to witnesses.