MANILA — A 58-year-old man who got into a fight over a motorcycle’s bright LED headlight was shot dead by the motorcycle driver inside a Caloocan City subdivision past 12 a.m. Monday.
Nelson Belen, a resident of the same subdivision in Barangay 173, Caloocan City, suffered three gunshot wounds in the chest after he was shot repeatedly by Ardy Cristobal, 43, an electrical engineer.
Senior Supt. Bartolome Bustamante, Caloocan City police chief, said Belen — who was reportedly coming from a restaurant he owned, called the Kubo Grill — was traveling along the Senate Avenue inside the Senate Village in Barangay 173, on board a Ford Ranger pickup, when he got irritated by the glaring headlight of Cristobal’s motorcycle past 12 a.m.
Cristobal was with back rider Joseph Ochona during the incident, said Superintendent Reydante Ariza, chief of Caloocan City Police North Extension office.
Bustamante said probers learned that a heated altercation took place between Belen and Cristobal. After several minutes, Belen reversed his car and retreated to his home in Barangay 173 while Cristobal went home at Carissa Homes subdivision in Barangay 171.
For some reason, the two went back to the same spot where they had an altercation.
Upon seeing Cristobal who was on board a Honda CRV this time, Belen went out of his car and fired at Cristobal’s feet, using his .45-firearm, apparently to give Cristobal a lesson, Bustamante said. Cristobal was injured, the police said.
However, Cristobal, a professional shooter, retaliated, took out his licensed Thunder 45 ultra Compact Pro firearm and shot Belen three times in the chest, killing him on the spot, Ariza said.
Immediately, Cristobal left Belen’s body at the crime scene and went to the Police Community Precinct Station 6 and surrendered, turning over his loaded firearm and magazine to the police.
As of this writing, Cristobal had left the Philippine Ortophedic Center where he got treatment for his injured feet, the police said.
Cristobal also underwent inquest proceedings on Monday afternoon. He could be charged either with murder or homicide and would definitely be made to answer for violating the existing election gun ban, said the police. Ariza said Cristobal has expressed intention to file a frustrated murder counter-charge against Belen and he would cite self-defense in responding to the criminal case against him.
Cristobal would also be detained at the Caloocan City Police North Extension office after the inquest proceedings, Ariza added.
Recovered from the crime scene were a .45-gun and four fired cartridge cases beside Belen; 16 fired cartridge cases from a .45 gun; a deformed slug; and four metallic fragments from a jacketed fired bullet.
Bustamante said Belen, who probably just wanted to scare Cristobal, “underestimated” the suspect, who was trained in handling guns. At this point, police are still checking if Belen or Cristobal was drunk during the shooting.
Both Cristobal’s and Belen’s firearms were licensed, but were not exempted from the election gun ban, Bustamante said.
Bustamante said they would check the captured images of the installed closed circuit television in the area in their investigation.
Ariza said Belen was known in the area to be a lawyer handling cases with Customs. When police verified with the Bureau of Customs, Belen was not listed as a party that had transacted with Customs nor was he listed as a government employee or official at the BOC. SFM