Police have filed a murder charge against “a known gun-for-hire” following the shooting of Australian Reginald Hodgens in Ilocos Sur.
Mr Hodgens was shot dead outside his rented home in the town of Sinait on the evening of October 15.
PLN has been contacted by the 70-year-old victim’s brother, Ronald, who forwarded information from official sources about the ongoing investigation into the killing.
The statement says that local police “filed a case of murder” against a suspect on October 19.
The man, described as “a known gun-for-hire” was identified by a 10-year-old boy who had been playing near the victim’s house at the time of the killing.
The boy told police that he had approached the man, who then scared him away by revealing his gun.
The child ran home and told his father what had happened, but was not believed. At that point a shot rang out, confirming the boy’s story.
The boy was later able to identify the alleged killer from among a “rogue’s gallery” series of photographs.
The statement also said it was likely the gun-for-hire was acting on instructions from a third party, as he had no known connection with Mr Hodgens.
We have also been contacted by a friend of Mr Hodgens, who shed some light on a possible motive for a contract killing. Previously, police investigators had said that the victim moved to Sinait after “filing a case against a Filipino”.
The friend said that he had visited Mr Hodgens a few months ago in Sabang. He said that he [Mr Hodgens] was then in the process of moving out of his rented house due to “problems with his landlord”. He also said that he had a black eye that was sustained “when the landlord tried to kick him out”.
However, he added: “Not sure whether this has any relation to the case at all, or to the case he had filed against someone.”
Investigations into the murder continue and the suspect has until Monday, October 29, to file a counter affidavit.