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Former Filipino congressman accused of orchestrating killings of governor and 8 others is arrested at golf range
A former Filipino congressman accused of masterminding the killings of a provincial governor and several others has been arrested while playing golf in East Timor and will be deported to the Philippines, Philippine justice officials said Friday.
Police arrested Arnolfo Teves Jr. at the Top Golf Driving Range and Bar Thursday in East Timor’s capital of Dili, where he has tried to seek asylum, the Philippine Department of Justice said. His arrest had been sought through an Interpol red notice asking police worldwide to locate and apprehend him.
Teves is facing murder charges in connection with the killings of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and eight other people, including some seeking aid at his home in Pamplona town in March last year. At least 17 others, including a doctor and two army soldiers, were wounded in the attack, police said then.
Degamo’s widow, Janice Degamo, who is mayor of Pamplona municipality in Negros Oriental, hailed the arrest on Facebook and posted drone video of Teves being apprehended at the golf range.
“His arrest abroad at a high-end golf course demonstrates his total disregard for our law enforcement agencies,” she wrote. “Despite all his wealth and power in the end he cannot escape justice.”
At least six men armed with assault rifles and wearing military camouflage and bullet-resistant vests walked calmly into Degamo’s residential compound and opened fire in an attack that was captured on security cameras. The shooters fled in three SUVs.
Eleven suspects were arrested over the assault in the sugarcane-growing heartland of the Philippines. A twelfth suspect was killed in a shoot-out.
Teves denied any involvement in the killing of Degamo and the other victims and said without elaborating that he was set up.
The killings refocused attention on the country’s bloody political conflicts, which have been exacerbated by the existence of private armies and large numbers of illegal firearms, especially in the countryside.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said then that the attack on Degamo, who backed his presidential candidacy, was “purely political.”
Marcos commended Philippine law enforcers and their international counterparts for the arrest of Teves.
“I assure the Filipino people that we will spare no effort in ensuring that justice will prevail in this case,” Marcos said in a statement, vowing to “take all necessary actions to bring him back to the country so he can face the charges filed against him.”
The apprehension of Teves “is a testament to the power of international cooperation,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a statement. “It sends a clear message that no terrorist can evade justice and that nations stand united in safeguarding the safety and security of their citizens.”
Remulla asked Teves to face trial without conditions and “face the courts squarely.”
Alan Tangcawan / AP
Teves has separately been implicated in the killings of three people in 2019 in Negros Oriental and violations of the country’s gun and explosives law after authorities found assault weapons and ammunition in his family’s residential compound.
Crimes and decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies were some of the daunting problems inherited by Marcos.
In one of the country’s deadliest episodes of political violence, nearly 200 armed followers led by members of a powerful political clan blocked a convoy of a rival political family in southern Maguindanao province ahead of local elections in 2009.
The gunmen then led the 58 victims, including 32 media workers, to a nearby hilltop, where all were gunned down.
A court convicted detained key members of the Ampatuan family a decade later but many suspects in the attack remain at large.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
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Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.