DAGUPAN City police chief Mariano Luis Verzosa on Friday announced a breakthrough in their investigation on the murder of 26-year-old Zharlene Yadao.
 
This was after a concerned citizen revealed to an Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan reporter what he allegedly heard several hours before the incident from a group of men having a drinking session. 
 
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Verzosa said they invited for questioning the person suspected to be the gunman. He said the work of the person in question requires him to handle a gun, his issued firearm is a caliber. 38 revolver.
 
“There are a lot of inconsistencies in what he told us. First, he said he accidentally fired his gun Wednesday evening at the back of the building where he is working. Then, he later said he tested firing the gun, admitting that it was loaded with only one bullet,” the police chief narrated.
 
“Said person could be unaware that the empty shell of a caliber. 38 revolver is left at the chamber when fired. A check on the gun showed an empty shell inside,” he added.
 
Verzosa said the subject person has been subjected to a paraffin test at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory in Lingayen. The gun and the slug recovered from the body of Yadao were also sent to the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistic test. 
 
Meanwhile, Verzosa said they are looking into the possibility that the killing was a handiwork of lawless individuals riding in tandem in a motorcycle who have victimized several women in the past.
 
“They usually strike between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.  Common victims were women. They hit the victim in the head and run away with her bag or cellular phone. However, they don’t kill their victim,” he said.
 
Yadao, a nurse at the Dagupan Doctors Hospital and Medical Centrum based in Barangay Tambac in the city, was walking home Wednesday morning when two motorcycle-riding men approached her and shot her.

She died after sustaining a gunshot wound in the left shoulder that pierced through her lungs, liver, and right kidney.

The autopsy conducted by City Health Officer Benjamin Bautista revealed that the slug in the victim’s body looks like that reload from a caliber .38 revolver.
 
Yadao’s body is laid at Funeraria Quioque in the city. She will be buried Monday at 8 a.m. at the Eternal Gardens.

The motive in the killing is yet to be established.