NBI ordered to find Carl Angelo’s missing teenage companion

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to locate the teenage companion of Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who was found dead in Caloocan days after both of them had gone missing.

Reynaldo De Guzman, 14, is still missing since he was last seen in the company of Arnaiz on the night of August 17 to buy snacks in a store near their residences in Barangay San Andres, Cainta, Rizal.

Arnaiz's parents found him in a Caloocan morgue on August 28 with police saying the 19-year-old was killed in an alleged shootout with Caloocan policemen.

Arnaiz, according to police, was accosted for allegedly robbing a taxi driver.

Aguirre has already ordered the NBI to look into the death of Arnaiz, a former U-P Diliman student.

PAO chief Persida Acosta said Arnaiz's parents, Eva and Carlito, would also ask the Department of Justice to include them under the provisional coverage of the Witness Protection Program.

According to the policemen, Arnaiz held up taxi driver Tomas Bagcal on C3 Road in Caloocan City, hit the driver on the head with a gun, took his wallet and then fled the scene.

Bagcal then asked for help from policemen patrolling the area to apprehend the suspect  whose description fit Arnaiz but the young man allegedly opened fire on them when they accosted him, prompting them to fire back and kill the teenager.

Police said the driver's wallet containing P450 and the taxi were recovered from the crime scene.

They also said marijuana and shabu were found in Arnaiz's possession.

However, the victim's relatives refused to believe that he was into illegal drugs saying Arnaiz's only vice was smoking.

His father Carlito said that his son could not have opened fire at the Caloocan City policemen because he did not even know how to handle a gun, much less own one.

The forensic analysis conducted by the PAO on his body indicated that Arnaiz was tortured before he was killed as his wrists were swollen and bore handcuff marks. His eyes were also bruised and his body bore cuts and scratches.

He also appeared to have been kneeling when he was shot in the chest and in the right arm, by someone standing close to him.

The PAO is considering filing murder charges against the policemen who said they shot Arnaiz in a shootout. —NB/KVD, GMA News