THE KILLINGS RESUME
Four deaths from gunshot wounds recorded within 24 hours
Four persons, including a policeman, were killed in separate shooting incidents in Cebu within a span of 24 hours from November 13-14.
At around 10 a.m. yesterday, PO2 Lord Rometh Cañada was shot several times by a masked man using a KG-9 submachine gun as he was about to leave an auto repair shop in Barangay Calajo-an, Minglanilla town.
His assailant was riding a blue car and disembarked from the passenger side, shot the policeman then fled.
Minglanilla Police Station commander, Chief Insp. Vernino Noserale, said Cañada was with his brother-in-law, Ken Echavez, outside the car repair shop when the blue car stopped in front of them.
Echavez was injured and was immediately brought to the South General Hospital for
treatment.
Cañada, however, died before he could be brought to the hospital.
Drivers
Later in the day, at around 1:20 p.m. another person was shot by unknown assailants while having lunch in Purok 2, Barangay Cubacub, Mandaue City.
PO4 Andres Garcia of Canduman Police Station identified the victim as Vir Perale, 48, a resident of Barangay Casili, Consolacion town, and a family driver.
Initial investigation showed that two men on board a motorcycle shot Perale, who was hit in his neck and nape, resulting to his death.
Garcia said Perale was not included in the drug watch list and the motive behind his killing remains a mystery.
Fifteen hours earlier, at around 10:25 a.m. of November 13, a habal-habal driver was also shot by unknown assailants at Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Police Inspector Richard Serafin, investigator of the Mabolo police precinct, identified the victim as Flaviano Abay, 49, of Barrio Luz, Cebu City.
Serafin said Abay was dropping off a passenger when an unknown person wearing a mask, shot him from behind then fled the crime scene.
Responders who arrived at the area said he died immediately.
‘Robber’
In the afternoon of the same day police shot dead an alleged robber in Sitio Tarcom, Barangay Lahug in Cebu City.
SPO2 Allan Vallejo of the Mabolo police identified the alleged robber as Paquito Vilarmino, who allegedly stole roofing materials at a hardware store.
Vallejo said that Vilarmino attempted to draw a .45 caliber pistol which prompted responding police to shoot him.
In an interview with radio station, DySS, the mother of Vilarmino who did not give out her name, said she believed that the police abused their power during the arrest.
She questioned why her son was shot in the head in a reported resistance when her son did not fire his pistol.
Mabolo police chief, Supt. Dindo Juanito justified that his men were simply defending themselves during the incident.
“It was not in the head. It was in the nape. I do not see my men to be abusive like that. Besides, the suspect was a known robber and drug user in the area, and my personnel were simply doing their duty,” said Juanito.
7th Cop
Meanwhile, Cañada is the seventh cop shot dead by unknown assailants and during police operations since August 2017.
“We are looking into the possibility that he (Cañada) was killed because of his police duties. We are checking the cases he has handled over the years for anything that may lead us to the identities of the suspects,” said Noserale.
According to Supt. Janette Rafter, information officer of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), Cañada was assigned initially at the Minglanilla Police Station until 2016.
Noserale said that on that year, Cañada was suspended for one month for neglect of duty following his absence at a mandated gathering at the CPPO.
Noserale did not specify.
Rafter said that before Cañada’s suspension ended, he was transferred to the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) headquarters where he served for the last two years.
“We don’t know the exact reason why he was relieved from Minglanilla,” said Rafter.
“Based on his police performance, he has no derogatory records at all aside from that suspension. He was not known to be involved in illegal activities,” said Noserale.
The Minglanilla police called on witnesses to help identify the car that approached Cañada and Echavez as there were no CCTV cameras in the area. /With Correspondents Paul Lauro and Jessa Mae Sotto
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