Expert finds lapses in police probe of Pampanga mall shooting

Local police who investigated the shooting incident that killed two teenagers inside a shopping mall in Pampanga province could have mishandled the pieces of evidence they gathered from the crime scene, a forensics expert said Friday. Forensics examiner Dr. Raquel Fortun, on a Balitanghali report, noted how police officials held the cal-22 gun and the bloodied shirt recovered from the SM shopping mall without wearing any gloves.
"Basta iyan ay physical evidence, hind mo iyan hahawak-hawakan, hindi mo dini-display. You are putting the pieces of evidence at risk kasi pagkakuhamo sa scene, dapat iyan nakabalot na," said the expert from the UP College of Medicine. Two boys, 13 years old and 16 years old, were killed in the shooting incident investigators initially believed to be a "crime of passion." The teenagers, based on a suicide note recovered from one of them, could have been lovers, and the 13-year-old was believed to have shot the other victim before shooting himself. Fortun stressed the importance of keeping a piece of evidence – such as a gun used in a crime – untouched by anybody because fingerprints left on it could reveal who fired the shot, who held the gun last, or who owned it. Fortun also criticized the police for showing in front of a camera how to hide a small firearm like a cal-22 in a person's hand without being caught. The police office at the time was demonstrating to the media how the shooter could have entered the shopping mall and sneaked the firearm inside the premises. "Responsibility [rin] ito ng media. Kapag kayo ay nagre-report ng karahasan, nandoon iyong risk na may gumagaya," Fortun said in explaining so-called "copy-cat" crimes. Based on the Philippine National Police Operational Handbook, pieces of evidence are supposed to be properly retrieved and marked by an evidence collector before turning them over to a custodian. "The evidence collector shall put his initial, location and date of collection on the item and turn it over to the evidence custodian for documentation and safekeeping," according Paragraph G, under Section 4 of the handbook. Superintendent Wilson Santos, chief of the Mexico town police, however, assured the public police investigators handled the evidence properly and observed protocols in their investigation. "Right after ma-receive ang report, our first responders natin secured the area at nagpunta tayo in coordination with SM mall management at ang pictrues na nakuha inilagay sa dapat paglalagyan iyong mga na-recover na evidence," he said. Moreover, Santos said the pieces of evidence had already been examined even before they were shown to the media. Santos said none of the two teenagers can be held criminally liable for the crime because of their deaths. Still, families can file administrative case, he added. Despite being considered a "closed case," Santos, still said investigations will continue to determine if there might be other people involved or liable for the crime. The shopping mall's closed-circuit television footage apparently failed to capture the shooting incident, but just the same, Santos said investigators would still review the footage, which up to now has yet to be turned over to the police by the SM Supermall's management. Shopping mall officials, who are conducting their own and separate investigation on the matter, apparently told police they were still reviewing the footage themselves. Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Arnold Palomo, chief provincial investigator, said on Balitanghali investigators have finally been able to get in touch with a supposed "third party" in the relationship of the two victims. "Sinasabi niya na lonely ako, nag-break na kami ng mahal ko. Kaya with that statement, we can say that they [the two boys] were in a relationship," the police official said. — Mark Merueñas/LBG, GMA News