NBI ballistics expert belies shootout in Kian slay

MANILA, Philippines — A ballistics expert at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday testified at the Caloocan Regional Trial Court (RTC) that the bullets that hit 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos were shot by two persons in a downward direction, belying police claims there was a shootout. 

Ballistician Hayasmin Abarrientos took the witness stand before RTC Branch 125 and testified on the bullet graze and dents on the concrete fence and wooden stand at the site where Kian was killed in an alleged encounter with police last year.

Abarrientos said the dent marked the bullets that pierced Kian’s head and made a hole in the concrete fence, and indicated that the bullet was fired in a downward direction.

Another bullet graze on the wooden fence indicated that the bullet was fired in a downward position inclining to the right.

Both bullet marks suggest the shots were fired by two persons in a downward position, the ballistician said.

Abarrientos said the findings of her report suggest that the position of the shooter was standing upright while pointing his gun downward toward the target.

The NBI team deployed to process the crime scene also recovered a deformed lead core from a jacketed bullet of a 9mm firearm, after the team dug through the mud along the banks of the Tullahan River where Kian was killed.

Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares and Police Officers 1 Jeremias Pereda and Jerwin Cruz face charges of murder, torture and planting of evidence for killing the teenager and planting shabu and a gun on him to make it appear he fought back. Kian’s death sparked outrage against the government’s war on drugs.