MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the killing of a distinguished American marine biologist at his home in the central Philippines, police said Thursday.Three men broke into the house of Kent Carpenter, 73, in the coastal town of Sibulan in Negros Oriental province during a suspected robbery on Sunday. One of them is alleged to have shot the scientist in the head with a handgun as he sat on a sofa, police officials said. Another suspect forced Carpenter’s Filipino companion into a room and raped her. The suspects took a laptop, an unspecified amount of cash and a backpack before fleeing, national police spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co said. The third man is being hunted, Co told a news conference, adding that investigators were trying to determine why the suspects shot Carpenter. A fourth suspect, who acted as a lookout outside the property, was arrested after surrendering to police and allegedly provided crucial details of the crime. One of those arrested had previously been hired by Carpenter to do some carpentry work in his house, Co said, adding that the arrested suspects include the alleged gunman.
“All indicators as of now point to the fact that the attack was not connected to (the American’s) work,” Co told reporters. “It was really a planned robbery. So, we are still verifying why they killed the American marine biologist.”
