Suspect Patrolman Jade Rio Mantua (Photo courtesy of General Santos City Police Office)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – A manhunt is underway for an active policeman who gunned down a fisherman following a heated altercation in his own home in a village here on Thursday morning.
Lt. Clarizel Perez, spokesperson of the city police office, identified the suspect as Patrolman Jade Rio Mantua, 31, who was assigned under the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-12 based in this city.
She said Mantua reportedly shot dead victim Rusty Dumas, 35, while they were having an argument inside the cop's house in Block 3, Purok Diamond Valley, Barangay Tambler around 7:15 a.m.
The suspect immediately fled from the scene after the incident and has yet to surface as of noon despite reportedly sending initial surrender feelers to RMFB-12 colleagues.
“The pursuit operations are ongoing against the suspect,” Perez said in an interview.
Citing accounts from witnesses, she said Mantua already had an argument with Dumas, who is a distant relative, when they attended a wake early Thursday.
The two, who were reportedly still drunk, engaged in another heated altercation Thursday morning at the kitchen of Mantua’s home that resulted in the shooting, she said.
Perez said Dumas died on the spot due to a lone gunshot wound on the head from a caliber 9mm pistol.
She said the circumstances of the incident showed that the motive was a personal grudge but did not elaborate on it further.
Nelson Gonzaga, a brother-in-law of the victim, called on Mantua to surrender and face the consequences of his actions.
“We will hold him accountable for what he did. We will not settle this,” he said. (PNA)
