Agriculture department employee killed in jeepney by only other passenger
MANILA, Philippines—A female employee of the Department of Agriculture was shot dead in Quezon City Tuesday evening by the only other passenger left in a jeepney bound for Montalban, Rizal, police said.
Nellie Palabay, 55, of San Mateo, Rizal, an employee of the DA’s Livelihood Development Council, was declared dead on arrival at the New Era Hospital from a bullet wound in the back of the head.
Police Officer 3 Jaime De Jesus of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the shooting happened around 6 p.m. inside a passenger jeepney (TVT-449) plying the City Hall to Montalban route while it was traversing Commonwealth Avenue near the Central overpass in Barangay (village) New Era.
De Jesus said that according to PUJ driver Lowel Lanquin he had only two passengers at the time, a man and a woman, when he suddenly heard gunfire from behind him. When he looked through the rearview mirror, he saw the woman, later identified as Palabay, lying on the floor of the vehicle while the other passenger had already gotten off.
According to the case investigator, the shooter got on a motorcycle driven by a cohort and both sped away while Lanquin rushed the victim to the nearest hospital. Palabay died en route to the New Era Hospital.
De Jesus said the police were looking into robbery as a motive for the killing but were not discounting the possibility that Palabay was the object of a hit.
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