Police identify masterminds, gunmen in Nueva Ecija bus shooting

MANILA, Philippines — The gunmen who shot and killed two bus passengers while in transit in Nueva Ecija have been identified, along with possible “masterminds,” according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo likewise said they are already preparing charges against the two assailants and more than one mastermind.

“Kinukumpleto na lamang po yung mga papel at sinumpaang salaysay po ng mga kaanak ng biktima, anytime this week we are preparing na po na makapag file ng case,” Fajardo said in a media briefing on Tuesday.

(We are just completing the papers and sworn statements of the victims’ relatives. Any time this week, we are preparing to file a case.)

“As to the personalities kung sino po ang mafi-file-an ng kaso, antayin po natin kung sino-sino po ito, but one thing I could assure you: kung sino itong kakasuhan, the investigators are very confident that they got the correct persons involved including the two gunmen at yung masterminds,” she added.

(We will announce the suspects’ identities and the cases against them soon. But I can assure you that investigators are very confident they got the correct persons involved, including the two gunmen and masterminds.)

According to Fajardo, the gun shells retrieved from the bus matched with others found in three previous shooting incidents in Isabela and Nueva Ecija, which helped them identify the assailants, who are reportedly members of a gun-for-hire group.

Last November 15, a couple was shot four times in the head and neck on board a Victory Liner bus traveling through the mountainous part of Barangay Minuli, as seen in a video that had gone viral on social media.

PNP earlier said that the son of the female victim was eyed as a “person of interest” in the case, saying that they were involved in a conflict that had gotten to a point where she filed a carnapping case against her son.

Until now, the PNP did not disclose the nature of the conflict or the identities of the son and the victims.

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