7 suspects face kidnap, homicide raps in slay of crime gang member

Police authorities find the lifeless body of 25-year-old Eugene del Rosario along the Eco Tourism Road in Sitio Pontor, Barangay Bignay 2 on Wednesday, August 17, 2022.

LUCENA CITY — Police on Tuesday, August 30, filed kidnapping with homicide charges against seven suspects in the killing of a member of the “bukas-kotse” (car break-in) gang abducted in Batangas City and later found dead in Quezon province.

Major Dante Majadas, Batangas City police chief, accompanied by the family of victim Eugene Del Rosario and witnesses, referred on Tuesday the criminal complaint against the suspects to the provincial prosecutor, Brigadier General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., Region 4A police chief, reported.

The police earlier reported that armed men in two cars abducted Del Rosario on August 16, in front of a gasoline station in Barangay Mahabang Ludlod in Batangas City.

A video of the incident recorded on closed-circuit television camera installed in the vicinity, had gone viral on social media.

On August 17, the victim was found dead along the eco-tourism road in Sariaya town in Quezon province with gunshot wounds on his head and body.

The victim is tagged as a member of a “bukas-kotse” gang operating in the Calabarzon region.

The family also disclosed that Del Rosario had previously stated to the authorities the gang members’ identities that led to the arrest of some, the police said.

The police said the motive of the killing was revenge.

Two witnesses also identified the driver of the car used in the abduction and pointed to one Jefferson Sanchez and his six other gang members as the culprits. The report did not identify the six suspects.

All of the suspects remain at large as of this writing.

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