Laguna gunman kills engineer, rapes and kidnaps victim’s GF

ALAMINOS, Laguna — A 30year-old man armed with an Ingram M-11 compact submachine gun was arrested after a string of heinous crimes on Friday night that began with the killing of an engineer in Calamba City; the rape, kidnapping, and hostage-taking of the victim’s girlfriend; the carnapping of his victims’ car; and the shooting of a bus driver during his getaway.

Senior Inspector Alma Gapunan, Alaminos deputy chief of police who led the hostage negotiations, identified the suspect as Salvador Rin Abraham Jr., single, a fishpond caretaker and resident of Barangay Masile in Calamba City.

Gapunan convinced Abraham to surrender and give up his two hostages in Barangay San Juan, this town at 11:30 p.m.

Investigation showed that Abraham first shot and killed Ian Jethro Vega Masicat, 37, an electronics communication engineer at a TV station and resident of Barangay Santa Clara, Pila, Laguna, at 9:45 p.m. Friday.

Masicat had just come out of the Aviles Restaurant in Barangay Real, Calamba, where he had dinner with his girlfriend and walked her to his car at the parking lot, when the suspect appeared and suddenly shot him for no reason.

Masicat died on the spot and Abraham got into the car to the surprise of the victim’s girlfriend, whom he held at gunpoint.

Probers said Abraham raped the young woman at gunpoint and then kept her inside the car as he drove away in the direction of Batangas.

Along the way, Abraham had a traffic altercation with a bus driver and opened fire at the latter.

At this juncture, police were already on to Masicat’s carnapped vehicle with license plate EO-1613.

Police conducted a dragnet operation and relayed the incident to other police stations in Laguna for a provincial road lockdown for the Masicat’s car.

Finally, the suspect was cornered by police in Alaminos so he took Masicat’s girlfriend and one Raffy Malaran hostage until he was convinced by Gapunan to surrender before midnight.

Investigators were still determining Abraham’s motive in killing Masicat and how he got hold of a high-powered firearm. He is detained by police, pending the filing of a string of serious criminal charges.