Man’s past catches up with him

Time and distance did nothing to save a 30-year-old former Quezon provincial jail inmate from retribution for his alleged crime of rape as he was shot to death on Saturday morning by a suspected hired gun in Manila.

Norlito Enriquez, a construction worker and resident of Iridium Street in Sta. Ana, was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors at Sta. Ana Hospital due to multiple bullet wounds in the body.

Enriquez had come to Manila from Quezon province following the provisional dismissal two months ago of a rape case filed against him with the Lucena City Regional Trial Court Branch 54.

Police Officer 1 Richie Caligagan of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section said that the killing happened around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday on Mabuhay Street in Sta. Ana.

Before he was shot dead, Enriquez and his 32-year-old neighbor, Shaidy Caga, were on their way to work when a man passed them on the road, the policeman said.

Caga told the Inquirer that he was surprised when the man who had passed them stopped and turned back. “He just pulled out a gun and started shooting,” he said.

As the victim keeled over bloodied, the gunman fled. Caga tried to save his neighbor by bringing him to the nearest hospital but the effort proved futile.

The policeman said that six spent bullets from a .45-cal. pistol were recovered from the crime scene.

Caga said that the shooter had used a silencer on his gun.

According to the policeman, the gunman may have been hired to kill Enriquez who, before his release, served two years at the Quezon provincial jail for rape.

“His rape case was provisionally dismissed by the court judge for the failure of the complainant in the case to appear at the trial,” he pointed out, referring to a September 7 order issued by Lucena City Regional Trial Court Judge Daniel Villanueva.

Operatives of the MPD homicide section are conducting follow-up operations for the identification and arrest of the gunman.