ANGELES CITY – Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan appealed yesterday to the Philippine Embassy in the US to coordinate with the Memphis, Tennessee police to facilitate the probe for the fatal shooting last Saturday of a Kapampangan nurse by a still unidentified suspect in Cordova in the state.
Pamintuan said that victim Erano Santos, 33, was shot dead last Saturday afternoon by the suspect, apparently a car theft who later fled in the victim’s car, a silver 2013 Honda Civic sedan. Santos was left lying in a pool of his blood on the parking area where he lived at Stonebridge Crossing Apartments in Cordova.
Ian Flora Ocampo, a friend of the victim, said Santos was a total orphan whose only sibling is a minor who lives with an aunt in Barangay Lourdes Sur here. He said Santos was a former “clinical instructor” at the Holy Angel University’s College of Nursing in this city and migrated to the US in May last year.
ABC News quoted Memphis police as saying that the stolen vehicle still had to be found, as it cited witnesses as telling investigators that “Santos was seen fighting with an unknown suspect before he was shot and his vehicle was taken.”
Pamintuan also asked the Philippine Embassy in the US to extend help to the distant relatives and friends of Santos who reportedly haven’t raised enough funds to shoulder the victim’s funeral expenses.
The relatives and friends also did not have enough resources to bring Santos’ body back to this city for proper burial, the mayor noted.
Pamintuan asked Philippine Embassy officials and US police authorities in Tennessee to ensure that “the culprit is caught and justice in served.”
The victim’s former student Ralph Karlwin Gaspar said he and his classmates were shocked by the news of the death of their former teacher. He said friends and students of Santos have been flooding social networks with calls for justice on the case.
Santos was a graduate of Angeles University Foundation’s College of Nursing.
