No match in Nicole slay ballistic tests

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 24 slugs and spent shells that underwent ballistics examination in the attempt to determine the trigger-happy person that shot Stephanie Nicole Ella in Caloocan City on New Year’s Eve did not match the bullet that killed the girl.

Results obtained by The STAR showed those examined by the Philippine Crime Laboratory through Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) “are different from the slug recovered” from Ella.

“The lands and groove or the individual characteristic of the 24 slugs mostly are right or clockwise, while the slug extracted from the victim was left twist or counter clockwise, therefore, the ballistic examination is still negative,” the result read.

The slugs and spent shells were submitted by concerned citizens to the police. Based on the ballistic exam results, 19 of the slugs fired came from different .45 caliber handguns.

Two of them came from the gun of Juan Agus, one of the five suspects in Ella’s death. Agus, a former serviceman, was arrested and charged after admitting to firing his gun with his three friends on New Year’s Eve.

Seven-year-old Ella was hit in the head by a .45 caliber bullet while watching fireworks near her house in Barangay 185, Malaria on New Year’s Eve.

She was rushed to East Avenue Medical Center but died on Jan. 2 after suffering eight cardiac arrests. Ella was buried in Bulacan two weeks ago.