MANILA, Philippines—Quezon City Police District (QCPD) operatives arrested the man who allegedly killed a hairstylist and a taxi driver after he was found hiding in a drainage tunnel wearing the same shirt he wore in Wednesday’s shooting.
Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao, the newly-appointed QCPD director, announced with Mayor Herbert Bautista the arrest of Larry Benuya, 38, a resident of Barangay (village) Minabuyok in Talavera municipality, Nueva Ecija.
Pagdilao said Superintedent Dennis De Leon, Fairview Police Station commander, got a phone call from a subdivision’s security office reporting the presence of a man inside a tunnel.
Screengrab from YouTube.com
The operatives responded to the area around 8:30 a.m. and found that Benuya, who was still wearing the same green polo shirt he wore during the shooting, was hiding inside the drainage at Casa Milan Subdivision in Barangay Greater Lagro.
Benuya allegedly shot dead on Wednesday afternoon Joquerom Brioso, 31, a former employee of Salon Deluxe along Quirino Highway in Sacred Heart Village, Barangay Pasong Putik, after a pedicure session at the salon.
To escape, Benuya rode a bus going to SM Fairview, commandeered it and forcibly took at gunpoint the driver’s uniform. He later transferred to a jeepney, which almost collided with a taxi in Barangay Greater Lagro.
After getting down the jeepney, Benuya tried to ride the same cab but was refused by its driver, Norberto Espiritu, whom the suspect then shot twice through the window before fleeing the scene.
“We’re still clueless as to why he committed the crime. We asked the witnesses if he was drunk, on drugs or waiting for someone but they said he was normal,” Pagdilao said, adding that the police will look into Benuya’s medical history.
“If he had attempted to ambush the victim, he should’ve had a motorcycle with him. He even hid in a tunnel. It’s unlikely that he’s an assassin,” he said.
According to the salon staff who was giving Benuya pedicure, he heard the suspect talking with someone on the phone about a child who got hospitalized for a head injury.
For Bautista’s part, the recent shooting highlights the importance of installing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) units inside commercial establishments.
He also urged the community and business sectors to cooperate and come up with CCTV units in areas frequented by people. That way, Bautista said, crimes would be easier to solve.
Recovered from Benuya were five empty shells of .45 caliber handgun, a .45 caliber magazine and a mobile phone.
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