By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff Reporter
A CONFRONTATION after a near
accident resulted in the death of a Laoag City jail officer.
Jail Officer I Jayson
Cabanatan, 30 years old, married and a resident Barangay Tabug, Batac City was
gunned down at a gasoline station here in Laoag City at midnight on May 13,
2014.
The Laoag City police identified
the suspect as Mark Neil Racaido, of legal age and a resident of Barangay 59-B
Dibua South Laoag City.
Cabanatan was rushed to the
Gov. Roque B. Ablan Sr. Memorial Hospital by responding police officers where
he was pronounced “dead on arrival”.
In their initial
investigation, Laoag deputy police chief P/Chief Insp. Jonathan Papay disclosed
that victim together with his companion identified as SJO1 Joel Guillermo also
detailed at the Laoag City Jail were walking from the convenient store of said
gasoline station when a green Mercedes Benz 100 van bearing a plate number ULK
554 which was then moving in an opposite direction nearly hit the victim while
walking.
Cabanatan then approached the
driver of the vehicle where a heated altercation ensued. During the
altercation, Cabanatan purportedly hit the face of the suspect, who retaliated
by firing a short firearm at the victim.
The suspect fled after the
incident.
The police recovered eight
cartridges of a 9–mm pistol and one deformed bullet for the same gun type at
the crime scene.
The police also recovered
another three deformed 9-mm bullets from the victim’s body at the hospital.
On May 16, 2014, the police
filed a case for violation of Article 248 of the Penal Code, or murder, at the
City Prosecutor’s Office against the suspect.
Laoag City police
officer-in-charge P/Supt. Jeffrey Gorospe, the case is still under
investigation and the suspect is still at large.
Reacting to this, Laoag City
Jail warden Sr. Jail Officer Herminigildo Rivera expressed his sadness about
what happened to one of his subordinates.
Rivera said that it will be
the discretion of the court if the suspect requests for another jail if he
would be caught and detained since the victim was working at the Laoag jail.
Rivera added that inmates
also expressed their sympathy to what happened to the jail officer. An ongoing
summer sports fest at the city jail was also temporarily halted to pay respects
to the fallen jail officer.
The warden also divulged that
jail officers have been detailed at the victim’s house and they are monitoring
Cabanatan’s family.
As for the investigation,
Rivera expressed his confidence that the Laoag police would do what their jobs
and that he would respect the results, notwithstanding the fact that the
suspect’s father is a retired police officer and was detailed here in Laoag.
Cabanatan was on his second
year of service at the Laoag jail.
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