CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 12 November) — Police investigators said one of the gunmen approached Roland Sherwin Uy as he lay dying on a folding chair at the family-owned quarry in Zone 1, Barangay Pagatpat last Thursday, to make sure he would die.
Major Evan Viñas, city police spokesperson, said the 45-year old Uy, a councilor in Barangay Carmen, the village with the largest voting population in the city, was already dying from five gunshot wounds inflicted by another gunman when his companion came to finish him off.
Viñas said the victim, son of incumbent 1st District Rolando Uy, died on the spot from six bullets hitting his body, arms and head.
“This was the initial result of the police investigation on the crime scene,” Viñas said.
The City Police has formed a task force composed of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the National Bureau of Investigation and investigators from the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office to investigate the killing of Uy and the quarry caretaker, Samuel Tabalan, 75 years old.
Viñas said PNP Regional Director Brig. Gen. Rolando Anduyan would have to approve the task force composition of law-enforcement agencies before it starts its formal investigation.
Mayor Oscar Moreno has offered a still unspecified amount of money for any information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
Moreno who visited the crime scene last Thursday called the killings “cruel and senseless.”
“It was so barbaric that I could not believe it happened in our city,” Moreno told reporters during his press briefing Friday.
Viñas said Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) found eight empty cal. 45 shells from the crime scene in Barangay Pagatpat.
“Uy suffered six wounds on his body, head and arms while Tabalan had two wounds on his body and one wound on his head,” Viñas said.
He said upon examination of the bullets in the body of Uy, probers found five of these were fired from the same gun while the sixth bullet was similar to those found on the body of Tabalan.
Viñas said this led the probers to conclude that one of the gunmen went to the dying Uy to finish him off.
Uy’s driver said the gunmen left on a motorcycle after the shooting. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
