An off-duty police officer in the Philippines who fatally shot two unarmed people on the main island of Luzon over the weekend will face double murder charges, authorities announced Monday.
The incident took place in the town of Paniqui on Sunday and was caught on camera by witnesses. Paniqui is located in Tarlac Province about 90 miles north of Manila, the national capital, on the northern island of Luzon.
The perpetrator, identified as Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, reportedly fled the scene after shooting Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank Anthony Gregorio, 25, in a Paniqui neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, according to the police report, seen by CNN Philippines on Monday.
Nuezca surrendered to police about an hour after the incident at the local Rosales Pangasinan Municipal Police Station. Upon his arrest, the off-duty cop turned over his Philippine National Police [PNP]-issued 9mm semi-automatic pistol, reportedly the weapon he used to commit the crime.
PNP Region 3 Chief BGen. Val de Leon said Monday that authorities will charge Nuezca with two counts of murder, CNN Philippines reported. The regional police chief said that the Philippine Department of Interior and the local Tarlac government have both “assured a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation” of the incident, adding that “no bail was recommended” for Nuezca.
Paniqui’s police chief said in a radio interview that the two parties were already involved in an ongoing property right-of-way dispute, but that the shooting incident was sparked over the Gregorios’ alleged firing of a PVC air cannon or “boga.”
“The suspect went there to confront them, then the issue of right-of-way cropped up and the shooting incident happened. The suspect’s anger was apparently triggered by the confrontation between his daughter and the older Gregorio,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Noriel Rombaoa, chief of Paniqui Police Station, explained.
At least two witnesses recorded the shooting, footage of which went viral on social media over the weekend. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he had seen video footage of the incident and condemned the shooting as “too brutal” at a press conference Monday.
“You do not follow the law, you salvage (summarily execute), you kill, then I’m sorry. That is not part of our agreement on how we should do our work. … Lock him up, and don’t let him out,” he said, according to the Straits Times.
The traditionally pro-police president described Nuezca as an “aberration” in the Philippine National Police force.
“He has something wrong in the head,” Duterte added.
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