Former seaman shot dead in front of his house in Toledo

Police cordons the area where Ronnie Obenza’s body lies as a police officer waits for the Scene of the Crime Operatives to process the crime scene in Barangay Bato, Toledo City. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A former seaman was killed near his house in Barangay Bato, Toledo City by a lone motorcycle-riding gunman on the evening of June 13.

Ronnie Obenza, 50, died after he suffered several gunshot wounds in the body and the head,  said Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, Toledo Police Station chief, in a phone interview with CDN Digital.

Initial investigation showed that Obenza had just came from his ancestral house, about a block away from his house, to switch on the lights there.

He was on his bicycle heading home at past 7 p.m. and he was just a few meters from the gate of his house when an unidentified assailant arrived on a motorcycle and shot him twice.

When Obenza fell, the gunman got off the motorcycle and shot the victim several times on the body and the head.

The gunman then got on his motorcycle and fled the area after the shooting.

According to a niece of the victim, that her uncle was a friendly and good man and that she never knew that he had any enemies at all.

She said that he was a former seaman and settled down in the city when he married.

Meanwhile, Rafter said that they were still investigating the killing of Obenza. /dbs