THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday declared the killing of vlogger Alicia “Mima Alicia” Lipata solved after it identified six suspects, three of them in police custody.
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a press briefing that the suspects included the alleged masterminds and gunmen.
Apart from the two suspects earlier arrested, a third one who confessed to being the middleman in the case, surrendered to the Mabalacat City Police Station in Pampanga, Nartatez said.
“We are able to establish the motive and we’re able to present it already to the proper court—that is Caloocan Prosecution Office on inquest proceedings. So this case is solved,” he said. According to BGen. Benliner Capili, Northern Police District chief, the third suspect coordinated with one of the gunmen and facilitated financial transactions linked to the crime.
Capili said investigators have also identified another alleged middleman, aside from the “business couple” earlier tagged as the alleged masterminds.
The three remain at large.
The PNP also revealed that the two alleged gunmen arrested earlier had criminal records, strengthening the investigators’ belief that they were hired killers.
The motorcycle rider has eight robbery cases and two cases for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, while the gunman had a firearms case and a murder complaint in Caloocan that was dismissed in 2016.
Police also recovered two hand grenades, a caliber.45 pistol, and a 9mm pistol from the suspects.
Ballistics examination showed that three of the recovered firearms were used in three previous murders, Capili said.
Charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives have been filed in Mabalacat against the two arrested suspects.
The PNP said the swift resolution of the case was made possible through extensive backtracking operations and by analyzing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.
The CCTV footage helped authorities track the suspects’ movements from the time they got to the crime scene until they left after shooting Lipata and her companion.
The first CCTV clip showed the gunman and the driver ordering food from a nearby store at 1:47 a.m. on July 17.
At 2:28 a.m., the motorcycle driver put on an additional white T-shirt, while the back rider wore a white long-sleeved shirt over a red shirt, apparently to conceal their identities.
At 3:11 a.m., the suspects were seen heading toward the victims’ residence inside a subdivision in Caloocan City.
Minutes later, the suspects fired eight shots at Lipata and her partner in front of their home before fleeing the scene about 40 seconds later.
