Cops secure video in NBI agent slay in Makati

MANILA, Philippines - The Makati City Police are now securing and reviewing video clips from closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed in establishments near the gym where former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent John Herra was shot dead by a lone gunman on Saturday.

Chief Inspector Reycon Garduque of the Makati Police Criminal Investigation Division told the Star that they have secured a video footage from  a CCTV camera attached to a building near the Republic of Fitness Gym along General Malvar St. in Barangay Bangkal where Herra was gunned down.

Garduque said the gym has no CCTV cameras installed but the Makati Police hope that the video footage from the nearby CCTV camera could help probers identify the gunman and his accomplice who drove the getaway motorcycle.

“We could have identified the gunman if the gym only had a CCTV camera. But the footage from the nearby CCTV camera could help us identify the suspects,” said Garduque.

Garduque said the second suspect was seen on a parked motorcycle near the gym right before the shooting happened.

“It is possible that the gunman escaped onboard the motorcycle,” he said.

The Makati Police also  started generating a computerized composite image of the gunman with the help of witnesses. The image will be generated from the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame, Garduque said.

The NBI, said Garduque, will also be conducting its separate sketch of the gunman with the description to be given by witnesses.

Garduque earlier described the suspect as wearing a baseball cap, wearing a white undershirt, a pair of jeans, about 5”4’ in height and of medium build.

Herra, 44, was gunned down on Saturday morning while working out at the Republic of Fitness Gym. He sustained two gunshot wounds in the face and two in the body.

Garduque said the gunman, who was armed with a caliber .45 pistol, casually walked away from the crime scene. The gunman, said Garduque, even fired his gun once in the street as he escaped.

According to Garduque, the gunman could have monitored  Herra’s movements prior to the assassination.

“He (Herra) lives near the gym and was a regular at the gym,” he said.

Initial police investigation showed that Herra arrived at the gym at about 8:30 a.m.  He then started his workout.

Minutes later, the suspect walked into the gym and pretended to work out and even asked Herra to “spot” him or assist him as he was lifting weights.

“The suspect, said witnesses, even asked Herra to spot him and to give him tips on how to use the weights,” said Garduque.

After about 30 minutes, Herra stepped away from the suspect and was wiping his perspiration dry when the suspect opened fire. Police recovered eight empty shells from inside the gym and another one outside.


“Herra did not see the gun as the suspect placed it inside a brown paper bag which he had placed nearby,” said Garduque.

According to Gardque, seconds before he shot Herra, the gunman called someone on his mobile phone and he was heard as saying: “Ok na.”

Meanwhile, Garduque said no motive for the shooting has been identified as yet by probers.

“We are still looking at all the possible motives although we are not discounting the possibility that this could be linked to his past at the NBI,” said Garduque.