At around 6 p. An hour later his family heard six successive gunshots. Jaypee was taken to a hospital, but was declared dead on arrival. Eyewitnesses said that Larosa had been shot by three men in dark jackets who had arrived on a motorcycle. It appears that the assailants were seeking to kill another man, a suspected robber. His family is unaware of the police having taken any meaningful action in the case.
Chicks placed atop the coffin of Jaypee Larosa, who was killed by unidentified gunmen in Davao City on July 17, , to symbolically peck on the conscience of the killers. Jaypee Larosa is just one of hundreds of victims of unresolved targeted killings committed over the past decade in Davao City and elsewhere in the Philippines.
Dozens of family members have described to Human Rights Watch the murder of their loved ones, all killed in similar fashion. Most victims are alleged drug dealers, petty criminals, and street children, some of whom are members of street gangs. Impunity for such crimes is nearly total—few such cases have been seriously investigated by the police, let alone prosecuted.
Although reports of targeted killings in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao, are not new, the number of victims has seen a steady rise over many years. In Davao City, the number has risen from two in to 98 in to in In , 33 killings were reported in January alone. An already serious problem is becoming much worse. This report provides an anatomy of death squad operations. It is based on our investigations of 28 killings, 18 of which took place in and The victims include children as young as In researching this report, we found evidence of complicity and at times direct involvement of government officials and members of the police in killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad DDS.
We obtained detailed and consistent information on the DDS from relatives and friends of death squad members with direct knowledge of death squad operations, as well as journalists, community activists, and government officials who provided detailed corroborating evidence. Most can make far more money with the DDS than in other available occupations.
