MANILA, Philippines — The alleged accomplice of the self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial in the slaying of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid allegedly killed himself during the serving of a warrant in Batangas, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said.
The suspect was identified as Jake Mendoza, 40, known by the alias “Orly,” the man who Escorial about the execution of the Lapid slay.
In an interview, NCRPO Director Police Major General Jose Melencio Nartatez JR said Orly locked himself in the house he was renting with his family, held them captive, and then proceeded to the bathroom before he killed himself.
“Nung sine-serve natin ang warrant of arrest, dahil alam nating armed and dangerous siya (Mendoza), we employed ‘yung SWAT ng CALABARZON. Hindi siya sumuko,” Nartatez said in a Super Radyo DzBB interview Sunday.
Nartatez said that after a cousin of the suspect and a negotiator convinced him to surrender, he went to the bathroom and shot himself “in front of the negotiator and his cousin.”
Authorities said Mendoza had already been previously arrested in November 2020 and served time in jail on charges related to illegal drugs.
Mendoza’s testimony would have been helpful in the progress of the Lapid case, he said.
Lapid was shot dead by two suspects on a motorcycle in Las Piñas City in October 2022. The Las Piñas Regional Trial Court sentenced Escorial to 16 years in prison in May for the killing of Lapid.
