In Cold Blood

Another lawyer, Atty. Dennis Valencia was gunned down here Friday last week. He was at the Hall of Justice, attending to an inquest. When he came out of the side gate, two men in a motorcycle were waiting for him. One shot him twice in the body then they left. Two men again on a motorcycle arrived and they shot him in the head while he was lying on the pavement. They sped off.

 This makes it two lawyers gunned down here in a span of two months. The only difference from Gil’s case is that Gil is a human rights lawyer. Dennis is known around here as a druggie’s lawyer. So why would anybody kill of Dennis? It could not be his clients. It would be like killing the goose that lays the golden egg. The only people who could possibly dislike him are the police officers. Dennis often insults them at trials. But why would they kill him for this? It’s just a job. And they know it.

 What is surprising is that the gunmen could do the dastardly act boldly. The Hall of Justice is certainly not an isolated place. There were still a lot of people there. And they did not even bother hiding behind a motorcycle helmet. Dennis was accompanied by someone who was able to run when the gunmen struck. That person could easily identify them. Yet they did not hesitate to kill Dennis. The police officer who was with Dennis at the time of the shooting did nothing but hide and aim his gun at the gunmen. Yet he did not fire. Maybe because of nervousness?

 To prove that the police here are not influenced in their investigations by padrinos the investigation on Dennis’ death seems to be going at a snail’s pace. Dennis’ mother happens to be a municipal trial court judge. Yet no one has yet gone to the place of the shooting to interview any possible witnesses. And it has been a week already. It seems that they want the witnesses to be brought before them at the police station. Why, are they no longer conducting any follow-up investigations?

 There are rumors circulating that a week before the incident, Dennis’ house was raided by the police for drugs. Apparently, none were found. But Dennis was forced to move back to his mom’s house because of it. Signs seem to point to lawfully unlawful elements as the cause of Dennis’ death.