The gun found near the body of actor Tyron Perez inside his car last week in Valenzuela City was also the one used to kill him.
The results of the ballistics exam, which were released by the Northern Police District on Monday, further boosted the suspicion that Perez committed suicide inside his car on the night of December 29 after he parked the car along the service road of the North Luzon Expressway.
“The .22-cal. North American firearm that was found inside the vehicle was the one that killed him. Yes,” Senior Inspector Arthur Quiñones, head of the investigation unit, told the Inquirer.
Evidence gathered from the start of the investigation pointed to suicide as the cause of the actor’s death. But probers still looked at other angles and told reporters earlier they were still waiting for the results of three vital exams.
Autopsy results on the actor’s body that were released on Saturday also showed that the sole bullet that pierced through his right temple was the one that killed him, and that the fatal shot was fired at close range.
Upon the release of the findings of the ballistics exam, however, Quiñones remained cautious on the real cause.
“People can be the judge of that,” he said when asked if foul play had finally been ruled out.
He said that he would still wait for the results of the paraffin test, which are expected to come out this week.
Meanwhile, the digital forensics exam being conducted by Camp Crame, which will show the exchange of messages between Perez and some individuals, may be released in a month, Quiñones explained.
Should these support the initial findings of the previous tests, Quiñones said that he would finally declare the case closed.
In a related development, Liv, Perez’s wife, has issued a statement confirming that Perez had told her of his plan to kill himself minutes prior to his death.
Senior Police Officer 3 Jess Sagisi, investigator, told the Inquirer that Liv dropped by on Monday night to formalize in writing what she had already told the media.
“She said that she was talking to him on the phone before he reportedly shot himself,” Sagisi told the Inquirer.
On the same day, Liv also took the black Toyota Altis with her, which police said, was registered under her name.
The actor’s body is now in Concepcion, his hometown, in Tarlac. It is set for burial on Thursday.