Cops checking background of vice mayor’s slain aide

The police are digging into the past of an aide of Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice who was shot dead last week to determine which direction their investigation will take.

Superintendent Ferdinand del Rosario, chief of the investigation unit of the Northern Police District, told the Inquirer yesterday that they were awaiting the results of a background check they ordered on Samuel Delana, 44, which could help them narrow down the possible motives for his killing.

Delana was about to park his vehicle at Phase 5, Bagong Silang, Barangay (village) 176, last Tuesday when one of two men on a motorcycle shot him repeatedly.

He sustained gunshot wounds in the face and chest and was declared dead on arrival at Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital.

“The results of the background check will serve as a takeoff point for us. Does he have enemies? Any criminal record?” Del Rosario, who is also the spokesperson of Task Force Delana, told the Inquirer.

Police officials earlier said that they were eyeing two possible motives—a land dispute or politics—for the killing.

Delana was a supporter of Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri before he joined the camp of Representative Oscar Malapitan, and later on, Erice’s.