Massacre in Angeles City

• Retired US airman, 4 others shot dead

By Albert B. Lacanlale

ANGELES CITY—A retired US Air Force serviceman, his wife and three others were gunned down by a lone gunman Thursday afternoon in Barangay Malabanias, this city.

Angeles City Police Director, Senior Superintendent Danilo Bautista, identified the victims as spouses Albert Mitchell and Jeanette Androneda Mitchell, their housemaids Marissa Prado and Isabel Fajardo, and driver Boy Vergara inside their rented apartment.

Bautista said the killing took place 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Hensonville Court, a subdivision here.

The victims sustained gunshot wounds in the different parts of their body and were already dead when discovered by Angelito Prado, a security guard in the said subdivision.

Bautista said Prado and another security guard held a man who came from the victims' apartment.

Prado called his wife, Marissa, at the apartment but no one answered the telephone, prompting him to check on the victims' apartment and was surprised to see the occupants shot to death.

Bautista said Prado hurriedly went back to the guard house but the suspect was not around.

The other guard told police that the suspect asked permission to load his cellphone but promised that he will come back.

The guard said the suspect was wearing white t-shirt and is about 30 years old. He has 5'6" height and white complexion. He added that the suspect boarded a motorized tricycle.

Bautista said robbery could be the motive behind the massacre as an undetermined amount of cash and jewellery were missing from the victims' house.

Responding policemen recovered 13 spent shells from a .38 calibre pistol at the crime scene.

Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan has condemned the killing and ordered the local police together with private security agencies to be vigilant in their task of securing the city and people from these criminalities.

He also called the attention of the 33 barangay captains to deploy their volunteer barangay police to assist in neighbourhood watch.

Facebook gives away suspect’s identity

Barely 24 hours after the killing, however, police already uncovered the identity of the suspect.

Chief Superintendent Arturo Cacdac, regional police director for Central Luzon, said the suspect was identified as Mark Z. Dizon, 28, of Barangay Salapungan, this city.

Dizon was positively identified by Prado, the security guard.

After cartographic sketches were made, police investigators searched through the web for a match in the appearance of the suspect and were led to Dizon’s Facebook account were clear photographs have been downloaded and shown to witnesses for recognition.

Investigators were able to locate Dizon’s residence but were told by his parents that the suspect went home only Thursday night but immediately left saying he was going “out of town.”

Police authorities though believe that Dizon is still in Pampanga as of Friday night.

Series of crimes

Further investigations revealed that Dizon had been wanted for carnapping and robbery. The suspect had a standing warrant of arrest issued by a court on January 13, 2005.

Interestingly, Dizon had used the alias “Michael Mitchell” before leading the investigators to presume that he had known Albert Mitchell long before the killing took place.

Ballistic tests on the recovered shells showed that the gun used is “one and the same” with the weapon used in the recent killing of British national James Bolton Porter and live-in partner Mellisa Madarang in their rented apartment at Sta. Maria Subdivision, Barangay Balibago, this city; and, Canadian Geoffrey Allan Bennun and Abegail Helina at the Oasis Hotel, also in this city.

Cacdac said Dizon and the victims may have personally known each other.

The city police had been on a massive manhunt Friday while charges had been filed against Dizon.