Autopsy rules out ‘struggle’

Results of the autopsy on the 36-yearold detainee who was shot dead by a barangay tanod last Tuesday midnight seem to indicate he was shot from a short distance, according to the Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section.

Senior Police Officer 2 Wetzel Berry said that the gunshot wound in the right side of Lendon Abadinas’ chest was from a gun fired about an arm’s length away.

This prompted investigators to doubt the claims of suspect Junnel Sanchez even more.

Sanchez, a barangay tanod, alleged that the victim attempted to wrestle the gun from his grip, resulting in him accidentally pulling the trigger.

The police said they already found inconsistencies in the statements of Sanchez and another barangay tanod identified as Jerome Miral, based on the records of Barangay Ermita’s logbook.

The logbook in the barangay hall where victim was brought indicates he was arrested for theft, and not for threatening to hurt people with a steel bar, as what the tanods claimed.

The logbook says the tanods spotted Abadinas burglarizing a store in the Carbon Market around 6:30 p.m. last Monday. When the tanods approached Abadinas he allegedly resisted and threatened to hurt them with the steel bar.

However contrary to the statement of the tanods that they arrested him Monday evening, two men who were detained along with Abadinas at the barangay hall stockade said Abadinas was placed there Sunday night.

Berry said that during their investigation they were not able to trace any complainant for the alleged burglary of the victim.

The Homicide Section is now calling on the victim’s family to claim his remains at St. Francis Funeral Homes.

A case for murder was filed against the two tanods yesterday afternoon before the City Prosecutor’s Office.

L. Avila/BRP