By Joseph Almer Pedrajas The sling bag of slain former soldier Winston Ragos, that supposedly contained a gun, was immediately taken from the crime scene to "secure" the evidence, the head of the investigation unit of Quezon City Police District (QCPD) explained. Maj. Elmer Monsalve, chief of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), said Thursday night that the sling bag might get lost if the police left it at the scene. "Opo, kasi kailangang i-secure niya ‘yon, kasi una, baka mawala doon sa lugar, kasi ang ginawa nila matapos mangyari ‘yon, naputukan na nga itong suspect-fatality, dinala agad sa ospital," Monsalve said in a DZMM radio interview. (Yes, they needed to secure it, because first, it might get lost there, because what they did after it happened, when the suspect-fatality was shot, was to take him to the hospital right away.) Concerns on why police immediately took away the sling bag from the crime scene rose after a closed-circuit television footage of the shooting incident, which led to the death of Ragos after he was shot twice by Master Sergeant Daniel Florendo in Quezon City, circulated online. According to Monsalve, they are looking into the matter, considering that members of the scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) were the ones supposed to process the evidence at the crime scene. “Kasama ‘yon sa mga ating bubulatlatin dito sa imbestigasyon na ginagawa na," he said. (That's part of what we will look into in the ongoing investigation.) The CIDU chief maintained that Ragos was carrying a gun in his sling bag, citing statements from police trainees who were with Florendo during the incident. "May statement na dito na nagpapatunay na meron ngang na-recover na baril, pati 'yung mga kasama niya na pulis na trainee doon, nagsasabi naman na may baril nga itong suspect-fatality,” he said. (We have a statement proving that there was a gun recovered, even the police trainees that were there also said the suspect-fatality had a gun.) But Monsalve said statements from bystanders or witnesses are welcome to prove that the Ragos did not have a gun during the incident. Ragos was fatally shot by Florendo on Tuesday at a quarantine checkpoint in Barangay Pasong Putik in Quezon City on Tuesday afternoon after allegedly trying to pull out something from his sling bag despite orders of the lawmen to get down on the ground. This came after he reportedly violated the enhanced community quarantine protocols by refusing to return home.