MANILA, Philippines – With five gunshot wounds — four in the chest and one in the abdomen — and several contusions and abrasions in different parts of his body, it was possible that 19-year-old former University of the Philippines student Carl Angelo Arnaiz found it difficult to fight back against his assailants.
This was according to Dr. Jocelyn Cruz, a forensic expert from the Northern Police District’s Scene of the Crime Operatives, who conducted an autopsy on the remains of Arnaiz, whose body was found in a grassy, dark area along C-3 road in Caloocan City after his supposed August 18 shootout with policemen after he allegedly robbed taxi driver Tomas Bagcal.
During the Senate Committee on Public Order’s inquiry into the killings of Arnaiz and Grade 11 Caloocan student Kian Loyd Delos Santos, Cruz said that based on the multiple gunshot wounds and other injuries in Arnaiz’s body, it appeared that he “wasn’t able to fight back that easily” against those who killed him.
During the hearing, Cruz testified that based on forensic findings, Arnaiz sustained gunshot wounds in the right chest, lower part of the chest, middle portion of the chest or the sternal region, left part of the chest, and lower part of the abdominal region.
She said “almost all of the gunshot wounds were going upwards” indicating “that possibly, the assailant could be in a standing position” and that “Carl (was) in a lower position compared to the assailant.”
Cruz said it was also possible that Arnaiz could be “in a supine or lying position in which (his) back is on the ground” with his face “upward.”
She also noted the multiple abrasions in Arnaiz’s chest and lower back that “could have been caused by friction to a rough surface.”
The abrasions were of “linear pattern,” a possible sign that the teenager was dragged by his assailants, according to Cruz.
She also saw two slight contusions in Arnaiz’s wrists that were possibly “caused a force on that area.”
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