Four persons were killed in a span of 24 hours in separate shooting and slashing incidents in Lapu-Lapu City.
The first incident happened at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and involved a 34-year-old man who was found dead inside a passenger multicab parked in a private lot in Sitio Masulog, Barangay Basak.
Armando Balde of Nakapama Urban Poor area in Barangay Basak was found with a deep slash wound in his neck, which was believed to have caused his death, said PO3 Wilson Malnegro of the Homicide Section of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO).
Malnegro said that Balde’s mother, Lolita, got worried when her son did not return home on Friday night, checked on the parked multicab on early morning the next day, and found his dead son instead.
He said that they were looking at robbery or a personal grudge angle as the motive of the killing.
Lolita told police that she gave her son P2,000 on Friday afternoon.
Seven hours later, the first of a series of three separate shootings in the city happened at Sitio Abuno, Barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City, where a 39-year-old guitar maker, Felix Amistad, was shot dead by two unidentified assailants.
SPO1 Lydo Pinos of the LLCPO said investigation showed at 1 p.m. that a resident in the area heard bursts of gunfire when suddenly a wounded Amistad rushed inside his house and was chased by the two armed assailants, who finished Amistad inside the house and then fled on a waiting motorcycle.
Pinos said they were looking at personal grudge as the motive of the killing.
Around 10 hours later a 42-year-old man was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Sitio Seaside, Barangay Pusok.
Quirino Calunsag, a resident of Sitio Seaside, died after he was shot several times in the body while he was walking along the road near his home at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, said Homicide investigator SPO1 Luisito Ernie.
Calunsag was rushed to the hospital but doctors there declared him dead on arrival.
Ernie said that they recovered five spent shells of a firearm apparently used by the assailant and a magazine with eight bullets inside.
Aside from that, Ernie said that they also recovered three sachets of suspected shabu from the victim’s pockets.
Ernie said that they were looking at personal grudge and illegal drugs as the motive in the killing.
Around eight hours later, a 47-year-old man was killed by a gunman at past 6 a.m. on Sunday in Sitio Firecrash, Barangay Bankal.
The victim was identified as Bernie Casinilo.
Casinilo died after he was shot several times in the body by one of three unidentified assailants, who approached him as he was standing on the side of the street in Sitio Firecrash, said PO1 Anthony Robert Piencenaves of the Homicide Section.
Piencenaves said that they were looking at personal grudge as the motive of the killing.
When sought for comment about the series of killings in 24 hours in Lapu-Lapu City, Supt. Elmer Lim, LLCPO deputy city director for operations, said that although they had already increased their police visibility in the city especially with their 11 brand new mobile patrol cars, they still plan to increase foot patrols in each police station to penetrate interior portions of crime prone and thickly populated areas.
“We will continue and intensify our Oplan Bakal Sita through random checkpoints to control loose firearms and other criminalities,” said Lim as another way to deter crimes in the city.
Lim, who described these incidents as isolated cases also said that these would need to be addressed because they happened only several hours apart.
Lim also called on the community to help them in deterring crimes by reporting any suspicious person or illegal acts in their areas.
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