A witness positively linked the suspect to the killings that took place in close proximity to each other on a 300-meter-long stretch along Commonwealth and Regalado Avenues in Barangay (village) North Fairview, Quezon City, between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Case investigator SPO1 Cristituto Zaldarriaga, however, declined to name the suspect since follow-up operations were ongoing for his arrest.
Zaldarriaga would only say that the man had been previously charged with frustrated homicide, robbery with homicide, car theft and assaulting a police officer.
“We suspect that he and his partner were high on drugs when they went on the killing spree. It was [something they decided to do on a whim,],” Zaldarriaga said.
The police prober noted that the five victims—Alodia Grace Go, 37; Angelie Auguis, 35; Gelmer Gabronino, 35; Rodelio de la Cruz, 34; and a still unidentified male scavenger—had no known enemies.
Insp. Roldante Sarmiento, Fairview police station deputy commander, had said in a previous interview that there was no common link among the victims.
“They were five people in four different locations. They had no connection. They were just bystanders. We have no idea why they were shot,” he told media men.
Go was the only daughter of a retired Philippine Constabulary official, Col. Alfredo Go. Auguis, on the other hand, was married to a policeman.
Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said that the thrill killers were spotted by a man on a motorcycle right after they shot De la Cruz near the Powergrid Electrical Corp. on Commonwealth Avenue.
The witness was about to enter an apartelle when he came across the two suspects who were also on a motorcycle.
Six meters away
The witness said he was about six meters away from the duo, allowing him to get a good look at the back rider whom he later described to the police.
Monsalve said the witness would have been shot himself had he not sped away from the suspects.
De la Cruz, who was also on a motorcycle, was the first to be shot by the thrill killers. A few minutes later, Go was shot in the neck and head as she was standing at the corner of Regalado Avenue and Bronx Street outside Fairmont Subdivision, waiting for a ride home.
Gabronino and Auguis, on the other hand, were shot in the head on Regalado Avenue as they were on a motorcycle on their way to buy medicine from a drug store.
The fifth victim was a male scavenger who was rummaging through a garbage pile on Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay Fairview, around 200 meters away from the spot were Gabronino and Auguis were killed.
What tipped off the police that the killings were all done by the pair was their proximity to each other. These also occurred over a short period of time and except for the last case, were done using a 9-mm pistol. The gun used in the last incident was a .45-cal. firearm.
Meanwhile, QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano has ordered the setting up of 24-hour checkpoints all over Quezon City in the wake of the shooting spree.
For its part, the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption (VACC) condemned the killings and urged the police to speed up its probe of the incident.
In a statement, VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez suggested that a curfew be imposed from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Commonwealth Avenue.
He also suggested that P500,000 in reward money be offered for the arrest of the perpetrators.
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