Halili’s assassin

Police Regional Office 4-A Director Superitendent Edward Carranza, refutes that a sniper killed Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan, Batangas, last Monday. According to Carranza earlier, Halili was only 160 yards away from an area where the gunman most likely hid. A person who was good enough with an M4 or M16, even without a telescope would be able to shoot from that distance. A sniper is supposedly used when for targets over 500 meters away.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of a sniper is “a military / paramilitary marksman who operates to maintain effective visual contact with the enemy and engage targets from concealed positions or at distances beyond their detection capabilities.” There is even a simpler definition - “someone who shoots at people from a place where they cannot be seen.” I did not find anything that would suggest that distance would determine if a person was a sniper or not. I did not also find anything that would suggest that a sniper always uses a scope. The only thing stressed is good marksmanship and good at hiding or being concealed from the target. In fact, concealment plays a big part in the training of a sniper. I would think a sniper can shoot from any distance, near or far, as long as he is concealed very well. It is true that when targets are far off, there are specialized snipers for that purpose.

I was also told by friends into firearms and shooting that an M4 and M16 can be modified for accuracy and to shoot from long distances. Some are even fitted with silencers to further help in concealment. Rifles designed to be sniper rifles are indeed more powerful, able to hit targets even as far as a kilometer away. But they are also loud. If something like that was used to kill Halili, his bodyguards might have seen where the shooter was hiding and shot back in that direction.

Halili was hit in the center of his chest. Investigations have revealed that the shooter was on higher ground, approximately 4.1 meters higher than his target, and 76.8 meters away which is more than 250 feet. An empty shell was apparently found at the place where he was hiding. This would suggest that the shooter was more in a hurry to flee the scene than to make sure no evidence would be left behind.

The family suspects government to be behind the killing, saying that it “took probably four weeks of surveillance using vehicles with manufactured plates” to plan the crime. Why the family is suspecting the government may not be far-fetched, again considering what they have disclosed and the high probability a trained marksman carried out the shooting. Remember, Halili was in the drug list, with his police powers stripped from him. Was that enough for him to be a target for liquidation, by an administration which has no qualms about getting rid of those suspected to be involved in drugs? I hope the investigation yields results soon, if only to quell suspicions of the family.