MANILA, Philippines – An eyewitness to the killing of a seaman over a slight traffic altercation positively identified at noon Friday a Manila policeman as the victim’s killer.
Jonathan Abante, 25, singled out 52-year-old Senior Police Officer 3 Vidal Bolanos, detailed with the Manila Police District’s Ermita Station 5 Intramuros detachment, in a line-up inside the MPD homicide section, identifying him as the person who shot and killed Danielo Gray.
Gray, 34, of Batangas City, died on Wednesday while undergoing treatment at the Philippine General Hospital, several hours after he was shot in Manila’s Ermita district at 2 a.m. that day.
Bolanos surrendered to his immediate superior and was turned over to the custody of the MPD homicide section at around 7 p.m. Thursday.
MPD homicide section head Senior Inspector Joselito de Ocampo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the suspect admitted the killing and said he threw away the .45-caliber pistol he used.
De Ocampo said that the authorities recovered Bolanos’ car at around 1 a.m. Friday, after the suspect confessed he abandoned the car near a market on Libertad Street in Pasay City.
Bolanos remains detained at the homicide section holding cell pending the filing of a murder charge against him at the Manila prosecutor’s office, De Ocampo said. He also said that the investigation would determine if the police officer abused his authority.
De Ocampo also said that Bolanos has met with Gray’s family. “Of course, there were a lot of tears. It was a normal reaction because of the intense emotions,” said De Ocampo in Filipino.