CEBU, Philippines - Police are now confirming the identity of the suspects in the killing of a convenience store owner whose faces were reportedly captured by the store’s security cameras during the shooting inside the store in Gorordo Avenue the other night.
City police chief Patrocinio Comendador said he has ordered Fuente Police Station chief Arnel Banzon to help the homicide police to fast track the investigation.
Comendador said personal motive remains to be the main angle but they are not discounting the possibility that the killing was business-related. The victim, Lallain Jore, 34, reportedly bought a firearm prior to the incident.
Initial investigation revealed that the suspects arrived on board a red motorcycle, bought five bottles of beer, and drank outside the convenience store.
A few minutes later, two of them went back inside the store and, without a word, shot Jore who was standing beside the cashier, hitting her several times on the chest.
The suspects then immediately fled using the same motorcycle towards Escario Street. The victim was rushed to the Perpetual Succor Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
Police recovered one cap, four empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol, one live ammunition, one deformed slug, metal fragments, the beer bottles bought by the suspects, and a blue plastic metal can opener.
A relative of the victim told the police that Jore reportedly had a heated argument with someone over the phone an hour before the suspects arrived.
That night was reportedly the third time the suspects went to the convenience store.
Jore’s cousin, Floyd Salvador, told dySS that the suspects did not declare a hold-up. Jore’s remains are now at the Rolling Hills funeral parlor in barangay Banilad. — Christopher Gabriel Bonjoc/JMO (THE FREEMAN)