Bank’s security camera shows severe beating; Suspected gunman arrested due to drug case

Video footage of a bank’s security camera showed how a policeman in plain clothes was badly mauled by two assailants on the sidewalk of P. del Rosardio and Junquera Streets.

The images were blurry but police said they had witnesses who recognized one of the attackers.

Police yesterday presented 34-year-old Ian Canseco of barangay Sambag Dos as one of those who allegedly killed PO2 Gerlito Estremos.

Canseco was arrested Monday night in barangay Kamagayan, the same village where PO2 Estremos was gunned down at dawn three days earlier.

The suspect was taken into custody not because of the policeman’s killing, but for a previous drug case under an arrest warrant issued by Judge Samuel Malazarte of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court on March 19.

The outodoor security camera of the Philppine Postal Bank recorded the 2 a.m. fistfight between the policeman and his two attackers, but failed to document the actual shooting .

The policeman was shot in the middle of the street with his own .45 caliber pistol and not on the pavement where the camera’s lens was directed.

The video footage showed the policeman slumped on the ground and being continuously kicked by his attackers.

Although the CCTV image was blurry, police said Canseco’s belt could still recognized.

Police said Estremos, a team leader at the Fuente Police Station, was on duty patrolling the area when thieves snatched his crash helmet.

Estremeros was pursuing the thieves on his motorbike when he encountered his assailants in a street corner across the University of San Carlos.

He was overpowered by two men in a confrontation on the street.

One assailant grabbed the policeman’s gun and used it to strike him in the head before fatally shooting him in the face.

100% sure

Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el, the city’s acting chief of police, said they are “100 percent” certain that they bagged Estremos’ assailant.

The second assailant is still being hunted down.

Natu-el said two witnesses positively identified Canseco as one of the two men who ganged up on the policeman at 2 a.m.

“He was 100 percent identified by our witness”, Natu-el said.

One of the witnesses said he was driving his car and stopped at the intersection when the traffic signal turned red. He then saw two men ganging up on the victim in front of a bank.

Police showed reporters video footage of the banks’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera which captured portions of the commotion.

Investigators said even without the video, they have an airtight case.

A statement from the police Criminal Investigation Branch said: “This office wanted to have a deeper investigation to the identification of the other cohorts since recovery of physical evidence is still ongoing”.

WIDOW RELIEVED

The policeman’s wife, Elmera, broke down as she saw portions of the CCTV footage while being interviewed live on television news.

“Maayo na lang nadakpan na (It’s a good thing that he was finally captured),” she said.

The family has set the slain policeman’s burial on Sunday.

Eugene Elizalde, chairman of the Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC), said he has yet to discuss with Mayor Michael Rama a proposal to extend financial assistance to the Estremos family.

“But for humanitarian reasons we can recommend giving the widow a job because her financial assistance will run out.”

She can also be provided training and taught skills so she can find a job. /with chief of reporters Doris Bongcac