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Friday, September 22, 2006
Assassins kill teenager, 2 others
By Jovy S. Taghoy
With Oscar C. Pineda
CEBU CITY -- Brian O. Lagrayo, 16, walked out a free man last Monday from a detention cell for minors. But his freedom was short-lived.
Lagrayo was one of four males killed on Tuesday and Wednesday in Cebu City, including an ex-convict who was shot dead while waiting for a ride on D. Jakosalem St.
Officials of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) declined to confirm if the four shootings indicated the return of vigilante-style attacks that began in late December 2004 and targeted mostly suspected or convicted criminals.
Before this week, the last recorded case happened last Aug. 19 in Barangay Busay, where 29-year-old Rosel Pansacalan was shot dead by a lone gunman on a black motorcycle.
The attacks, coupled with an upsurge in robberies, occurred despite greater police visibility from recruits who have been sent to Cebu for field training and to help secure an international summit in December.
The attacks have prompted police officials to reexamine how the police are being fielded.
Transport
Homicide investigators rushed to D. Jakosalem St. past 7 p.m. last Wednesday, after receiving a report on the killing of Ariel Guerrero, 29.
Guerrero, who was once jailed at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center, died of gunshot wounds in the head and stomach. He was waiting for a jeepney ride when two men on a motorcycle stopped in front of him and fired away, using a .45 pistol.
Barely an hour after the attack, the investigators proceeded to Sitio Banawa, near the Good Shepherd compound in Barangay Guadalupe.
A habal-habal driver, the son of a retired police official, was shot dead at 8:45 p.m.
Senior Police Officer 2 Rey Cuyos identified the victim as Eduardo Baritua, 35, and the son of retired police official Edgardo Baritua. He died of a single gunshot wound in the right temple.
Metante said the gunman boarded Baritua's motorcycle, then shot him when they reached a secluded area near Good Shepherd.
Unidentified
With the help of Baritua's brother, Metante told Sun.Star Thursday they are now hunting down the gunman, believed to be a construction worker.
At 10:25 p.m., a man was found dead at the corner of F. Gonzales and Magallanes Sts.
The man, who remained unidentified as of late Thursday afternoon, bore a gunshot wound in the left side of his head. He appeared to be in his early 20s, was of medium build, 5'2" and wore a black and white striped shirt and jeans.
Metante and acting Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Gayotin said it is premature to conclude that the killings were the handiwork of vigilantes.
The day before that, Metante's team began investigating the death of Lagrayo, of Barangay Tejero, Cebu City -- only a day after his release from Operation Second Chance in Barangay Kalunasan. He had been detained for sniffing rugby.
A man shot him at 5 p.m. Tuesday near a container yard in Pier 4.
Metante told reporters that Lagrayo's mother, Merly, suspects a security guard was behind the attack.
Robbery
While Cebu City's homicide investigators were kept busy by the attacks, in Lapu-Lapu City, the problem was different.
Two men robbed a lending firm in Lapu-Lapu City last Wednesday and ran off with more than P67,000 cash, after an operation that lasted no more than two minutes.
"We will shoot them on sight kung armado ug mosukol (if they are armed and try to resist)," said Lapu-Lapu City Police Chief Louie Oppus.
The Theft and Robbery Section's PO2 Elmer Canillo said the two men robbed Alano and Sons Finance Corp. at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday. The shop is located on the ground floor of John Boys Arcade, right across Pusok Barangay Hall.
Owner Bienvenida Alano was not around. Only her three employees faced the robbers, with no security guard.
The first suspect entered the firm pretending to be a customer. Then came the second suspect, who immediately pointed his gun at the employees and ordered them not to look at the robbers' uncovered faces.
Suspects took some P67,000 cash from a drawer, an undetermined amount of cash from the vault, the employees' cell phones and the office's telefax machine. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(September 22, 2006 issue)
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