Cops eye P150 debt in killing of jeepney barker

The police are eyeing a debt of P150 as one of the motives in the murder of a 50-year-old jeepney barker on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, on Tuesday morning.

Eddie Villanueva, a resident of Barangay Commonwealth, was sleeping by the side of the road when he was shot dead at 1:30 a.m.

According to Supt. Rossel Cejas, Batasan police station commander, witnesses had said that Villanueva owed the suspect, known only as “Sonny,” P150.

“They were always arguing; the suspect was always asking for [Villanueva’s] payment,” Cejas told the Inquirer.

Sonny escaped after the shooting and a witness, a banana vendor, told the police he was last seen fleeing toward Commonwealth Market.

The witness said he was watching TV at the Riverside Tricycle terminal when he heard a single gunshot. When he looked for the source of the sound, he found the victim lying on the ground.

According to Cejas’ police report, investigators found a cartridge at the scene but not the gun that was used.

Cejas said that investigators were going through the barangay watchlist to determine if the killing had anything to do with illegal drugs.