INQUIRER/AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The United States (US) Embassy confirmed Tuesday the assignment of the suspected US Marine involved in the killing of a Filipino transgender and that he is being held on board a US ship.
“The suspected Marine is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,” the embassy said in a statement.
“He is being held onboard USS Peleliu while a joint Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Philippine National Police investigation is conducted,” it said.
The embassy promised that the US would fully cooperate with the investigation.
The victim, identified as Jeffrey Laude, 26, was reportedly strangled to death after he and the “white, male” suspect checked in at a hotel in Olongapo City late Saturday night.
The chief of the US Pacific Command has ordered all US ships in the Philippines to stay put while the investigation was ongoing.
More than a thousand US soldiers are in the country along with ships for annual military exercises between US Navy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The US embassy has expressed its condolences to the family of Laude.
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