Photo taken from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) of the Dumaguete City government
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Police in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental are now conducting a hot pursuit operation against the assailants who gunned down Poblacion 1, (Tinago) barangay Captain Harrison Gonzales on Tuesday evening, June 16, 2020.
Dumaguete Police Chief Lieutenant Colonel Mark Gifter Sucalit told CDN Digital through a phone interview that Gonzales, 52, was at the barangay post together with some other barangay volunteers when the incident happened.
Based on the initial investigation, witnesses who were at the scene said that the assailants were onboard a motorcycle.
Sucalit said that they have collected pieces of evidence at the crime scene such as the spent shell casings of a still unknown caliber and the cellphone of the victim.
“We are coordinating with S.O.C.O., baka nay nag match sa mga previous incidente. Naay cellphone nga na kuha. We will be coordinating sa Anti-CyberCrime Group,” he added.
(We are coordinating with S.O.C.O, maybe they can see if these empty bullet shells are a match to previous incidents. We also have his cellphone and we are now coordinating with the Anti-CyberCrime Group.)
The cellphone will serve as somewhat the lead evidence for the crime mainly because the victim may have been receiving threats that the family and authorities do not know about.
The authorities are also looking at the relation of the crime to a plunder case that was filed against the victim.
“Nag profile ta and accordingly. Na kasohan daw ni siya ig plunder before, then na dismiss and na balik karon lang tuiga pero ato panang palawm-an ug mao na atong tanaw-on,” said Sucalit.
(We did profiling of the victim and accordingly. He was charged with plunder before and then got dismissed as the barangay captain and was reinstated within just this year but we will look into this.)
Some CCTV footage in the nearby areas is also being collected by the authorities to help them determine the ones responsible for the crime. /bmjo