Police: Child in murder case too upset to talk

POLICE said they still have no clue about who or why a trisikad driver and his Aeta wife were shot dead in their  cottage in Naga City Sunday dawn.

Their 9-year-old son was in the house during the shooting and saw the remains of his murdered parents, but police said he’s too traumatized to be of help.

“We’re still conducting a follow- up investigation . . . We  could not approach the  boy  because he keeps on crying,” said PO3 Joselito Navales of the Naga police precinct.

The children of the couple Albero and Sanger are now in the custody of their grandmother.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who co-chairs the Provincial Women’s Commission, said social welfare workers  know  how to handle children in crisis.

“If they can’t handle it, then that’s the time the Capitol steps in. But we are confident in their ability to handle this situation,” the vice governor said.

Police have yet to establish the motive behind the murders.

The couple’s four children aged 9, 7, 5 and 2 years old were unharmed.

Police said the gunman knocked  on the door and pretended to seek consultation and buy herbal medicine from Sanger, a native healer or herbolario.

PO1 Nilo Dacles of the Naga City police said autopsy results showed that the couple died from gunshot wounds on the head.

The lone gunman fled on board a red motorcycle without a plate number.

Social workers conducted a stress debriefing for the couple’s.

The kids’ grandmother,  Aeta tribe chieftain  Lilia Sanger, said the community is afraid more violence could happen and want a curfew and roving tanods in the area.

Supt. Eduardo Saavedra, Naga City police chief, said investigators hope to proudce a  sketch of the gunman if the victims’ son can respond to their questions./Correspondents Rhea Ruth V. Rosell and Carmel Loise Matus