Police arrested the teenager who was accused of shooting dead a 13-year-old boy in Consolacion town, northern Cebu.
Florentino Bregente Jr. was with his mother on board a tricycle when he was arrested last Thursday dawn in barangay Buanoy, Balamban town, northern Cebu.
Police said they believed the boy was about to escape when he was arrested.
Bregente was tagged as a suspect in the killing of Jade Emnace last Wednesday dawn in barangay Cansaga, Consolacion.
The two figured in an argument inside a carnival before the shooting.
A charge of murder is expected to be filed against the suspect on Thursday before the Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.
Insp. Wilbert Parilla, chief of the Consolacion police, said investigators are coordinating with prosecutors to see if the mother could be charged for obstruction of justice.
Parilla said police revealed the name of the suspect after they were informed that the boy was actually 19 years old and not 17.
Parilla said the boy claimed that he was just 17. The boy was asked to present his birth certificate to prove his claim.
When asked why he shot Emnace, the suspect said he was just toying with the gun, said Parilla.
Parilla said police were tipped off that Bregente was hiding in a boarding house in Buanoy where his father was staying.
The suspect’s father, Florentino Sr., works as a welder in a ship manufacturing firm in Buanoy.
It was the owner of the boarding house who reported the suspect’s presence in the boarding house.
Parilla said when they arrived in the boarding house, Florentino Sr. told them that he had brought his son to the house of his cousin.
But Parilla said they were on their way to the house of the father’s cousin when they were tipped off that a woman and a young man hurriedly transferred from another boarding house just beside Florentino Sr.’s boarding house.
Barangay tanods in Buanoy immediately conducted a checkpoint and stopped a tricycle with a woman and a young man on board at past 1 a.m.
Parilla said they immediately proceeded to the area and checked on the two passengers of the tricycle.
At first, the two passengers tried to conceal their identities before finally admitting that they were the ones that the police were looking for.