Gunman in Halili slay not that confident, likely with a companion —police

Police investigators on Thursday were able to establish that the "sniper's hole" found near where Tanauan City, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili was killed was indeed the one used by the gunman.

The police arrived at the conclusion following Thursday morning's reenactment of the incident.

Police Regional Office 4-A director Chief Superintendent Edward Carranza said the gunman was in a "best advantage position" when he shot the local chief executive in the chest.

He also clarified the distance between the gunman and Halili, saying it was 76.8 meters and not 84.4 meters or 160 meters as earlier stated by the police.

"We have established that indeed the position of the gunman was in that position based on the trajectory of the bullet. The gunman was higher than the position of the mayor and we have already corrected our data that the previous statement given was 160 meters," Carranza said at a press briefing after the reenactment.

With a distance of 76.8 meters, anyone who is supposedly "proficient in handling a long firearm" can surely hit the target, said Carranza.

Companion

He also said the gunman may have had a companion based on the width of the sniper's hole.

"The distortion on the natural growth of the grass, medyo, in terms of width, malapad," he said. "We are only deducing that together with the gunman was another person that probably assisted him."

He also said they do not think the gunman was "confident" in his marksmanship as he shot Halili in the body and not in the head.

"Body shot ang tinira niya. That is a bigger target so hindi siya ganon ka-confident... Kung talagang sniper, I'll tell you at a distance of one kilometer, he can have a head shot and with that distance of 76,8 meters, an ordinary marksman, as I have stated earlier, [is] a person who is knowledgeable in the use of long firearms can execute such act," Carranza said.

A "full metal jacket" which was considered as an "ordinary bullet" was recovered from the body of Halili during the autopsy, according to Chief Inspector Pete Malinao of the Batangas Provincial Crime Laboratory Office.

The reenactment, conducted at the same as time as the assassination, was led by members of the Special Investigation Task Group Halili, picked from the Calabarzon (Region 4-A) police.

Investigators, however, still could not identify the gunman and determine where his possible exit route was.

At least three persons of interest have been identified by the police. Two of whom are allegedly involved in illegal drugs while the other is related to politics.

The task force in charge of probing the murder of Halili in broad daylight are looking into three possible motives into the killing of the local chief executive which include "politics, the shame campaign that the mayor waged in his city, and his alleged involvement in illegal drugs."

Halili was one of the local officials whose police power was removed by the National Police Commission in November last year for alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

Despite this, he was known for his hard stance against illegal drugs, even having drug suspects parade in public in his "Walk of Shame" campaign.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said the killing may have been due to Halili's alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News