2 arrested in Talisay shooting

CEBU, Philippines - Police arrested two men suspected to be responsible for the attack on three foreigners at a fast food joint in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City last Friday.

The Talisay City police arrested Allano Velos in Barangay San Isidro, Talisay on the same day after three witnesses, including the fiancée of German national Henry Haffner who was killed in the attack, identified him as one of the gunmen.

At past 4 p.m. yesterday, Ricci Ramirez was arrested in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay, said PO1 John Illustrisimo.

Talisay City Police Station chief, Supt. Reycel Carmelo Dayon, said that aside from Haffner’s fiancée, Sheila Jane Gimutao, two other witnesses surfaced and identified Velos to be standing outside the McDonalds branch where Haffner, Frenchman Julian Millard, and Indian Cheten Saparaiya were shot.

SWORN STATEMENTS

In their affidavits – copies of which were obtained by The Freeman – the two witnesses said they saw Velos standing near the restaurant’s door when they went to McDonalds to buy food.

A few minutes later, they heard gunfire from the ground floor and the second floor and saw Millard and Saparaiya asking for help.

In a separate affidavit, Millard’s girlfriend, Barbie Ann Gabumpa, said she went with Millard and Saparaiya to McDonalds at past 4 a.m. when she heard three men at table saying, “nagkuyog ang onion ug ang garlic.”

She reportedly retorted, “kung unsay problema sulti lang,” and called Millard who was ordering food at the counter.

The three men reportedly went out of restaurant but Saparaiya went after them outside and confronted them.

In his affidavit, Saparaiya said the three were already in a car when he caught up with them and did not say a word when he confronted them.

Instead, one of the three reportedly pulled out a gun and fired it on the ground near his left foot, prompting him to go back inside the restaurant.

He then realized that he was wounded in his left elbow and suspected the same might have been caused by bullet fragment.

When he and his companions were about to eat, they heard gunshots and took cover but Millard was hit in the left thigh and left finger. Millard said they hid inside the rest room and did not know what happened next.

In her affidavit, Gimutao said she and Haffner went to the restaurant to drink hot chocolate and saw the two foreigners and Gabumpa asking the security guard if the joint had closed circuit television cameras.

She reportedly heard Gabumpa saying, “Wala ba moy CCTV diri? Ngano’ng mosugot man mo nga inanion mi diri?”

After she and Haffner finished their drink, they went outside to wait for their friends who were supposed to fetch them for Oslob town. A few minutes after, six men on board three motorcycles arrived and talked to a person who pointed to the foreigners.

The two motorcycles reportedly parked across the street while the third stopped in front of Haffner and with the passenger shooting him in the shoulder.

Haffner ran inside McDonalds to hide while Gimutao herself hid in the kitchen. There, she heard gunshots at the second floor and ran outside to look for help but found no one. She reportedly went back inside and saw Millard and Saparaiya being shot.

She called her friends to ask them to call the police and an ambulance but it reportedly took 15 minutes for them to arrive.

Haffner died in the hospital later.

The gunmen reportedly sped to the Tabunok flyover. Witnesses reportedly saw Velos drive one of the getaway motorcycles. 

DENIAL

Velos denied the allegation, saying he was just in his house when the incident happened and his wife and children could vouch for him. He said he has never figured in any criminal activity in his 40 years.

“Makonsensya unta sila sir… unsaon nalang akong pito ka anak ani nga ako ray nagbuhi nila…” he said.

Despite Velos’ claim of a clean record, Dayon said records would show that Velos is a suspected robber and a gun-for-hire and was among four people who engaged in a shootout with the police last January in Mananga Bridge.

Two of his companions died in that encounter while he and one other eluded arrest.

Midday yesterday, Dr. Franz Seidenschwarz, German consul, visited the Talisay City Police Station to ask for a copy of the police report.

He said he needed to verify if Haffner is still a citizen of Germany so he could take the necessary steps in informing his family about the incident. — /JMO (FREEMAN)