BACOLOD CITY – A son of a drug convict was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen on Saturday, the first day of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ), in Barangay 5 here.
Police identified the slain suspect as Gerald Cuadra, 43, son of Jose Kim “Boy” Cuadra, who was convicted for drug trafficking in 2006 and now serving a life term at the New Bilibid Prison.
Based on the initial investigation of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), the victim was shot seven times by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants past 2 p.m.
Maj. Sherlock Gabana, head of Police Station 2, said that one of the gunmen approached the victim when he disembarked from his pick-up truck. Then both perpetrators, who were allegedly covering their faces, fled.
Gabana said that the gunmen were seen at the area one hour prior to the arrival of the victim.
“It’s possible that the victim’s activities were monitored,” he added.
Police recovered from the scene seven spend shells of .45-caliber pistol.
Gabana said the victim had not reported any threats which could be linked to the killing.
He said that Gerald was included in the drugs watchlist of the BCPO.
Meanwhile, Gerald’s family in Aksyon Radyo Bacolod’s interview, questioned the authorities for not rushing the victim to the hospital located across the street from the place of incident and why it took so long for the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) to arrive.
In response, Gabana said that as part of the protocols, police as first responders checked the pulse of the victim but it had no signs of life.
He said that police was about to bring the victim to the hospital via their police car, but personnel from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) response team arrived and declared him dead.
“We responded immediately after we got a call for assistance, although the caller informed us about the incident 10 to 15 minutes after the shooting happened,” he added.
In May 2016, Gerald was arrested in a drug raid at his residence where P1.5 million worth of suspected shabu and firearms were recovered. He was released in September that year after posting bail for illegal possession of firearms. His drug case was also dismissed by the court. (Glazyl Masculino)