Ex-inmate, 15, dies in vigilante attack?

A fifteen-year-old former detainee was found dead with several gunshot wounds in his head, chin and body in sitio Kalubihan, barangay Talamban yesterday morning.

Police Homicide Section investigator SPO3 Alex Dacua identified the victim as Anthony Paulin, alias Iwok, of sitio Hillside of the barangay.

Dacua told The Freeman that the victim's father Rodrigo admitted that his son was jailed few years ago for theft and illegal drugs.

A resident living nearby reportedly heard a burst of gunfire around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, but did not mind to check since it was too dark.

It was around 11:00 a.m. yesterday when the Talamban Police Station personnel called up the Homicide Section after residents in the area discovered the victim's body.

Dacua said he is looking into two possible motives in the killing, suspecting that the victim might have gained enemies who harbor personal grudges against him or that his death might have something to do with his petty crimes in the past.

Police investigators were puzzled as to what the victim was doing in the place since the it was too dark and far from the main road for ordinary passersby to take, theorizing that the victim might have been waylaid by his assailant.

Paulin's body was first seen by children who were loitering at a vacant lot reportedly owned by Alex Tudtud, a kagawad of the barangay, but police speculated that the victim might have died Sunday night.

Personnel from Talamban Police Station and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group were first to arrive at the crime scene.

CIDG regional operation chief Rex Derilo refused to speculate as to whether the victim has been killed by suspected "vigilantes" for his criminal records.

Police noted two gunshot wounds in Paulin's back and face, and recovered a bullet at the crime scene. - Edwin Ian Melecio and Ramil V. Ayuman