Truck driver in road rage slay charged with murder

ROSALES, Pangasinan—The pickup truck driver, who allegedly shot and killed a bus driver and wounded its conductor in a case of road rage here, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the provincial prosecutor’s office.

SPO1 Oliver Vingua, Rosales police investigator, said the slain bus driver’s wife, Rowena Villacorta, and the bus conductor, Melvin Intal, filed the complaints on Monday against Frederick de la Cruz, 35, who fled and left behind his family after shooting and killing Joseph Villacorta on Saturday.

The shooting was triggered by a heated exchange that ensued when the right side mirror of De la Cruz’s pickup truck hit Joseph Villacorta’s bus as they merged on a single lane of the MacArthur Highway near the Pangasinan-Tarlac boundary in Barangay (village) Carmen here.

Fit of rage

After realizing that his side mirror was damaged, De la Cruz picked up a rock and threw it at the bus’ left side mirror to get even, police said.

Intal, worried that he and Villacorta would be made to answer for the broken side mirror, tried to confront De la Cruz by standing in front of the pickup truck, which was stalled by heavy traffic.

But instead of alighting from his vehicle, De la Cruz allegedly stepped on the gas pedal to slam his pickup truck into Intal. De la Cruz ran over Intal’s foot, causing him to fall on the road.

Seeing this, Villacorta got off the bus to help Intal. But De la Cruz also got off his truck and shot Villacorta, hitting him in the chest.

In a TV interview on Monday, De la Cruz invoked self-defense. He said Villacorta was holding a rock and was about to smash him with it so he was forced to shoot him.

Family left

De la Cruz then drove off after the shooting but his pickup truck was intercepted at a checkpoint in San Manuel town in Tarlac.

Police, however, found De la Cruz’s wife, Catherine, driving the vehicle. She told policemen that her husband had boarded a bus. Aside from Catherine, De la Cruz’s children, ages 14, 9, and 7, were in the pickup truck when De la Cruz fled.

Vingua, who investigated the case, had been quoted in an earlier Inquirer report as saying the bus and the truck were among the hundreds of vehicles crawling on a single lane as they entered San Manuel town in Tarlac at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

From two lanes, he said, they were to merge in that area to avoid hitting the base of an old welcome arch built across the road.

Villacorta, a resident of Urdaneta City, had been described as a jolly and hardworking person. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon