Witnesses say Carl Angelo kneeling when shot by cops

Taxi driver Tomas Bagcal and a witness identified as “Joe Daniel” on Monday identified Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Perez and Police Officer 1 Ricky Arquilita as the cops who shot 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz to death.

During the resumption of the Senate public order committee hearing on the death of teenagers, Bagcal said it was “Jeffrey” and “Ricky” who shot Arnaiz even after he repeatedly appealed to the Caloocan cops that he was just “turning over” the two teenagers who tried to rob him.

Bagcal later on identified the victims as Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman.

“Malayo po ako pero yung itsura, nakaluhod, nakataas ‘yung kamay,” Bagcal narrated. Asked by Senator Grace Poe if the cops who shot Arnaiz were present in the hearing, Bagcal said: “Si Jeffrey and Ricky po.”

According to Bagcal, the two teenagers tried to rob him on August 18. One of the teenagers held a knife under his ear. He said he was able to get help from a tricycle driver who noticed a commotion inside the vehicle.

With the help of the tricycle driver, Bagcal said he brought the two teenagers to the nearby police station. “Pagkalipas mga more or less 10 minutes, pumasok yung pulis sa kuwarto ko at sinabi ko ulit na i-turn over ko yung dalawang holdaper at sabi, itatapon na lang, sabay senyas na gigilitan ng leeg.”

“Naisip ko, pwede nila akong isabay sa mga holdaper na papatayain...Higit sa lahat kasi, hindi nila ako ni-log book, hindi nila tinanong pangalan ko at address ko at ganun din yung korporasyon ng taxi ko,” Bagcal said.

Bagcal said he, along with a certain “Sir Lakay” whom he later on identified as “Mr. Raras,” to C3 road. The said cop, according to him, stayed inside the vehicle when Arnaiz was shot to death by Perez and Arquilita.

“Huminto kami pero pinagbabaril na yung holdaper at nakaluhod po siya. Isa lang po ang pinababa at isa naiwan,” Bagcal said.

He said he did not hear Arnaiz say anything before he was shot dead, but he also saw the victim raising his hands.

"Iyong hitsura lang po niya nakaluhod na nakataas ang kamay po," he said.

Another witness, Joe Daniel, said during the hearing that he saw one of the teenagers shot to death. He said he heard several gunshots, and saw the cops get an item wrapped in a white cloth, which they placed near the victim.

“Sa tanan ng buhay ko, ngayon lang ako nakakita ng kamay niya sa police mobile patrol and then ilang saglit pa po noon, nakatakbo pa po siya sa may damuhan na yun and then nakaluhod siya, binaril na may posas,” the witness said.

“May kinuhang puting bagay and then may pinaputok na dalawang mahina at dalawang magkasunod at takot na takot ako noon. Nagtago ako maigi,” he said.

The witness said he just happened to be in the area when the incident happened.

Arnaiz's parents found him in the morgue on August 28, ten days after he had gone missing.

A body dumped in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija a few days later was identified as De Guzman who was Arnaiz' last known companion. A DNA result conducted by the Philippine National Police, however, said that the body was not of De Guzman. —ALG, GMA News