Mistaken identity eyed in killing of three men

A case of mistaken identity is the latest angle that the city police Homicide Section is now looking into as the possible cause behind the killing of three men outside an apartment in Ibarra Street, barangay Parian, last September 27.

A homicide investigator made the disclosure but refused to give more details about it saying that it is still premature to do so, although this is a sharp shift from the previous angle that a war between the Waray and the Ilongo groups could have caused the shooting.

Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch chief Pablo Labra II earlier said that the victims were members of the Leyte-Samar Group, an organization of people from Samar and Leyte provinces who are residing or studying in Cebu.

This group reportedly has been in a secret war against the Ilongo group, which is also an organization of people from Western Visayas.

Without confirmation of such angle, investigators now believe that the killer might be targeting somebody else or a group that might have been frequenting the area, then shot the victims by mistake.

The victims were Earl Rodrigo Lumaing, 23, a native of Guiuan, Eastern Samar temporarily residing at Logarta Street in the city; Miles Oliver Cortez, 16, of Borongan, Eastern Samar and residing in Bonifacio Street, and Millard Montederamos, 22, a non-organic personnel of the Bureau of Customs-Cebu.

They were shot at close range with a .45 cal. pistol, and the gunman casually walked away from the scene towards a waiting companion on a motorcycle. The two then sped off toward Jakosalem Street.

A witness earlier told the police that the gunman had fair complexion, medium build and long hair.

The police however admitted that they encountered difficulties in looking the relatives of the three fatalities.

Homicide policeman, SPO1 Dennis Moga, told The Freeman that not one of the relatives of the victims went to the police and gave statements that would help the police identify the killer. He said the relatives just took the bodies to the provinces and were no longer heard from.

Another setback in the investigation was when the other Waray-speaking tenants of the apartment, who were also identified as friends of the victims, transferred to other places. - Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE