THE Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is facing difficulty in identifying the perpetrators behind the killing of the 33-year-old man who was abducted Wednesday evening, January 22, at Purok Cereza, Barangay 3, Bacolod City.
Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, spokesperson of BCPO, said the investigators of Police Stations 2 and 7 are conducting a joint investigation in the killing of Richard Tutop and they have no lead yet on the identities of the assailants whom they claimed to be not less than three armed men.
“We don’t have witnesses and there was no closed circuit television (CCTV) camera when the victim was killed in Felisa Road fronting East Homes 6 Subdivision, Barangay Mansilingan Thursday morning,” he said.
He added they are looking into involvement on illegal drugs and personal grudges as possible motives in the killing of the victim.
On Thursday morning, Tutop was found by a security guard in a grassy area near the entrance of the subdivision.
The victim’s both hands were hogtied with packing tape and he was positively identified by his common-law partner at about 8 a.m.
Tutop, a former detainee from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) for violation of illegal drugs, sustained gunshot wounds on his head.
Investigation showed at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Tutop was standing along Purok Cereza when four unidentified armed men wearing bonnets forcibly abducted him using a color grey pick up vehicle.
Police Major Carmelo Nermal, chief of Police Station 7, earlier said Tutop was freed in October 2019 from jail after availing of a plea bargaining agreement.
Police urged witnesses to surface to help them identify the killers of the victim.
In December last year, a 66-year-old businessman was also abducted and later found dead at a grassy area in Barangay Mandalagan. The police have also yet to identify the perpetrators. (MAP)