Buenavista, Bohol mayor shot dead

MAYOR Ronald Lowell Tirol of Buenavista town in Bohol was enjoying his weekend break inside a cockpit arena in his municipality past 3 p.m. on Sunday when three men approached him from behind.

One of the men pulled out a gun and fired at Tirol’s head several times.

Chief Insp. Rolly Lauron, chief of the Buenavista Police Station, said Tirol, 38, was rushed to the Francisco Dagohoy Municipal Hospital in the
adjoining town of Inabanga but he died over an hour later.

Lauron said that based on their initial investigation, Tirol went to the cockpit arena to bet on a cockfight in the company of bodyguards.

However, at one point, Tirol’s bodyguards reportedly went out on an errand, giving the assailants the chance to come near the chief local executive.

Lauron said they have yet to establish the identities of the assailants who fled on board two motorcycles.

“Witnesses said the suspects did not even cover their faces when they attacked the mayor,” he said.

Recovered at the crime scene were four empty shells from a .45 caliber pistol.

Lauron said they were looking at politics and personal grudges as among the motives behind the killing.

Tirol had received death threats before the incident, Lauron said.

The mayor also survived an attempt on his life two years ago at a cockpit arena in the town of Clarin.

Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), has ordered the police investigators to conduct a
thorough investigation and arrest the perpetrators.