The Muntinlupa police initially thought the case of 23-year-old Luis Garcia would be filed as another drug-related “death under investigation” since the killer’s identity supposedly remained a mystery.
Garcia, however, was able to name the suspect when he spoke to a friend before succumbing to his wounds, according to an investigator and the victim’s loved ones.
Garcia was shot in the head around 9 a.m. Tuesday on Purok 4, Barangay Alabang. One of his friends, whose name was not disclosed, managed to bring him to Ospital ng Muntinlupa.
While receiving treatment, Garcia told his friend that it was their neighbor, Arnel Caagahan, who attacked him, according to the case investigator, SPO1 Mark Villanuac.
Caagahan went after Garcia because he suspected the latter of being the police asset or informant who had told authorities about his involvement in illegal drugs, Villanuac said.
Garcia was pronounced dead Tuesday night due to brain hemorrhage. He left behind two sons — one aged six years, the other just two months old.
According to Villanuac, the Muntinlupa police launched an antidrug operation against the 35-year-old Caagahan on Oct. 10 — a day before Garcia was shot — but failed to find their target.
Caagahan, who has been tagged by the police as a drug pusher, remains at large.
Garcia’s live-in partner, who asked not to be identified for her safety, said he was attacked while on his way to meet her and their two-month-old son that morning. He was supposed to accompany them to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for the child’s antidengue vaccination.
She said they had not seen each other for a month and Garcia just wanted to see their son when he gets an injection.
Speaking to the Inquirer, she recalled that Garcia was among those rounded up by the police under the Oplan Tokhang antidrug campaign on Oct. 8 but he was later released because there were no drugs found in his possession.
“He was too hardheaded. I already told him to distance himself from his friends who are involved in illegal drugs,” she said.
She also learned through Garcia’s friend that her partner was able to name the shooter before he died.