The Freeman

Quiapo road rage murder suspect Tanto captured

- — AFP with InterAksyo­n.com reports

MANILA — Army reservist Vhon Martin Tanto, the suspect in the road rage murder of cyclist Mark Vincente Garalde in Quiapo Monday night, was captured in Masbate Friday morning, the military said.

Armed Forces of the Philippine­s spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla confirmed Tanto’s capture in Barangay Poblacion East in Masbate City, adding that the suspect was in the custody of the Army’s 9th Infantry Battalion where he will be fetched by the police Criminal Investigat­ion and Detection Group and taken to Manila.

Tanto will be turned over to the Manila Police District, which will file charges against him.

Tanto allegedly gunned down Garalde in Quiapo Monday night after the two slugged it out over a traffic altercatio­n. A stray bullet also left 18-year-old college student Roselle Bondoc, a scholar of the Manila City government, seriously wounded. The suspect’s red Hyundai Eon was recovered in Aritao, Nueva Ecija.

News of Tanto’s capture came on the same day the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office announced it had revoked his gun licenses and the Department of Justice said it is considerin­g issuing an immigratio­n lookout bulletin against the suspect.

FEO chief, Senior Superinten­dent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, said as of Friday, Tanto’s guns — two .45 caliber pistols and a .40 caliber — are considered loose firearms, adding the revocation orders were served at the suspect’s Manila residence Thursday.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said his office has the authority to issue an immigratio­n lookout bulletin order against Tanto, although he still has to receive a request for one.

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