Cops looking for possible witness to security guard’s killing in Mambaling

Scene of the Crime Operatives process the crime scene in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, where Jay Fernando Cruz, a security guard, was killed by an unidentified assailant. | Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are looking for the companion of the security guard, who was shot dead, in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City at dawn of June 14.

Police Sergeant Nicolo Gonzales, Mambaling Police Precinct lead investigator, said that a footage of a security camera of an establishment near the crime scene showed that the victim, Jay Fernando Cruz, was with a man standing on the sidewalk before he rode his motorcycle to work.

Gonzales said that the man might have seen what happened because Cruz was shot dead by a motorcycle-riding gunman along C. Padilla St., in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, or about 250 meters from his home.

The CCTV (closed circuit television) footage taken at around 3 a.m. showed that Cruz, 48, was with a man standing beside Cruz’s motorcycle.

Investigation showed that Cruz was riding his motorcycle to work when at C. Padilla St. another man on a motorcycle cruised beside him.

The man pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and shot Cruz hitting him in the jaw with the bullet exiting on the other side of the head, causing his death.

Cruz died four days after his 48th birthday.

Read more: Motorcycle-riding gunman kills security guard in Mambaling

Gonzales said that they were coordinating with Cruz’s family to identify the man that Cruz was with a few minutes before his death.

He said that they considered the man as an important witness to the crime especially since the victim was killed just a couple of hundred meters away from his home.

He said the son of the victim went to the Mambaling Police Precinct to inquire about the investigation.

The son, however,  also could not provide information about the identity of the man his father was with before he was killed.

“Diri na iyang anak ganiha, nakigstorya sila sa akung imbestigador. Tapos, iyang anak wala man pud nahibaw-an,” Gonzales said. 

(His son was here at the police station and spoke with the investigator of the case. He also did not know the identity of his father’s companion before his death.)

He said that the son was not aware about his father having any feud with somebody before his death.

Gonzales, however, said that they were leaning on personal grudge as the possible motive of the attack.

He also said that he hoped Cruz’s companion would show up at the Mambaling Police Precinct and provide information about the shooting incident./dbs