ILOILO City – Two suspected riding-in-tandem robbers were found dead in Barangay Balabago, Jaro district at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, their eyes and mouths covered with packing tape, and their hands bound with tape, too.
Nineteen-year-old Tristan Zachary Eribal, an incoming senior high school student from Barangay Caingin, La Paz district, and uncle Jimrod Eribal, 22, of Barangay San Isidro, Jaro died of multiple gunshot and stab wounds.
According to Police Captain Eduardo Siacon, Jaro police chief, the Eribals were suspects in a series of robbery cases in Jaro and La Paz.
“While on a running motorcycle, they would snatch people’s bags or cellular phone,” said Siacon.
But policemen are not ruling out other angles in the twin killings.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation,” said Siacon.
For her part, Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6, confirmed that the Eribals were not in the police’s list of suspected drug personalities.
“They had no record on illegal drugs,” said Malong.
Tristan was last seen alive being forcibly taken away by two balaclava-wearing armed men from an abandoned house in Barangay Caingin where he was on a drinking binge with friends at around 2:45 a.m.
The police learned of the abduction from one of Tristan’s friends.
As the men handcuffed Tristan, they warned his friends not to follow them, said Siacon.
The security camera at the barangay hall of Caingin captured a white Toyota Wigo without a license plate stopping a few meters away from where Tristan was abducted. Two men wearing a hooded jacket were seen forcing Tristan to get into the vehicle.
The Jaro police theorized that the men’s target was Jimrod and used Tristan to find the latter.
“We believe the men were able to abduct Jimrod, too, from his boardinghouse then brought him and Tristan to Barangay Balabago,” Siacon said.
Policemen recovered 35 spent bullet shells of a .45 and .9mm pistols from the area where the Eribals were found dead./PN
