THE investigators are looking at several motives behind the murder of Cordova Police Station acting deputy chief Deogenes Carrillo on Thursday morning, June 20, 2019.
Police are focusing on Carrillo’s possible links to illegal drugs and his personal conflicts.
The victim had a lending business, according to Cordova Police Station Chief Efren Diaz Jr.
A reliable source told Superbalita Cebu that the slain police officer had been included in the narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) has ordered Diaz and his personnel to conduct a thorough investigation on the incident.
Carrillo was driving his white Toyota Hilux (YJZ-820) when riding-in-tandem assailants—who wore helmets and bonnets—shot him in front of a public school in Barangay Poblacion, Cordova.
He succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.
Some residents said the incident happened in a flash. They heard gunshots, and the next thing they saw was Carrillo’s vehicle riddled with bullet holes.
Nine spent shells and a slug fragment were found in the crime scene.
“We failed to notice the plate number. It happened too fast,” a witness told Superbalita Cebu.
Carrillo was reportedly on his way home to Barangay Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City when the attack happened past 10 a.m.
The assailants could have been following Carrillo’s vehicle before they attacked him, according to Diaz.
Carrillo would have become Diaz’s full-fledged deputy chief in two months’ time.
In an interview with reporters, Diaz said Carrillo did not divulge any threat on his life when they had a conversation hours before the attack.
“Our talk was nothing serious,” said Diaz, who after the conversation went to a barbershop.
Meanwhile, CPPO-Investigation and Detective Management Branch Chief Eloveo Marquez said the investigators would check why Carrillo passed by Poblacion.
Carrillo reportedly collected money from his debtors before the incident.
Diaz said they would check if Carrillo had made enemies through his lending business.
Carrillo, a police master sergeant, was reportedly involved in illegal activities when he was still a member of the Naga City Police Station’s Drug Enforcement Unit.
His promotion to a higher rank stagnated because of his alleged involvement in illegal drugs. However, Marquez’s report was not clear on Carrillo’s specific role in the drug trade in Cebu Province.
Before he was assigned in Cordova, Carrillo also had stints in the Regional Intelligence Division 7 and Provincial Intelligence Branch.
Police would also check the closed-circuit television cameras of the establishments near the crime scene.
A checkpoint was put up on the border of Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova after the incident, but the police failed to catch the culprits.
Carrillo’s relatives went to the crime scene after they heard the news of his murder. They refused to issue an official statement to the reporters. But some of them muttered a complaint, wondering why Carrillo was not brought to the hospital.
Diaz clarified that a doctor had checked Carrillo before the scene-of-the-crime investigators arrived. The doctor, he said, confirmed that Carrillo had no vital signs. (KAL)