Police worried on condition of Longno's cohort

BACOLOD City Police Office (BCPO) Director Ricardo De la Paz said Tuesday they are worried on the condition of Raymond Longno’s driver-companion because his life is in danger.

De la Paz said they have already coordinated with the family, friends and relatives of the companion of Longno but, for more than a week already, they failed to locate him after the killing of lawyer Johnny Chua last October 20 in which Longno is believed to be the principal suspect.

Longno himself was gunned down by two suspects the day after he killed Chua.

De la Paz earlier appealed to Longno's companion to voluntarily surrender to the police because his life is also in danger.

De la Paz said there's a possibility that Longno was killed to completely silence him because he could identify the possible mastermind in the killing of Chua, 63, owner of Eastview Hotel, and resident of Margarita Street, Capitol Ville Subdivision, Barangay Villamonte.

De la Paz said they are not sure if Longno's companion is still in Bacolod City or in Negros Occidental, since even his family failed to locate him.

He said they believed his life is also at risk, as it is very possible that the suspects who killed Longno are also guns-for-hire to completely silence him so that he could not link the mastermind in the killing of Chua.

The Special Investigation Task Force Chua still maintained their initial findings that Longno is the gunman in the killing of Chua.

De la Paz said they observed there were some groups in the city trying to protect Longno in the killing of the businessman which they claimed that Longno is innocent and a good person.

“Possibly, they are trying to mislead the investigation of the city police and National Bureau of Investigation because Longno is part of a big group. If we establish that he is indeed the gunman, there's a possibility that some of the members of the said group will be implicated in said incident,” he said.

De la Paz said some the members of the said group have records in Bacolod City and in Negros Occidental.

“If they could prove that Longno is innocent, they should show their proof and evidences,” he said.

Longno was positively identified by Chua's son Brent Andrew through the picture presented to him by police after Longno was killed.

Brent Andrew was the one driving their Isuzu vehicle when his father was shot by the suspect. (Merlinda A. Pedrosa)