Three gunmen barge into ex-con’s home, fatally shot him in head

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Three men, who were wearing bonnets, barged into the house of former convict, dragged him outside, shot him in the head and fled to an unknown direction in the late evening of May 23, 2020 in Minglanilla town in southern Cebu.

Philip Warren Abatayo, 31, was rushed to the hospital after the shooting at past 10 p.m. of May 23 by his neighbors, but he died at 5 a.m. of May 24, said Police Staff Sergeant Ernest Laspuña, desk officer of the Minglanilla Police Station in a phone interview with CDN Digital.

Laspuña said Dr. Andre Batanggul of the Minglanilla District Hospital declared Abatayo dead at past 5 a.m. due to the gunshot wound in his head.

Investigation showed that at 10:45 p.m. of May 23, three gunmen on a motorcycle arrived at the house of Abatayo in Sitio Napu, Barangay Guindaruhan and forced their way inside his house.

The armed men, who were wearing bonnets, then dragged Abatayo outside the front door of his house where they shot him in the head.

The gunmen then fled to an unknown direction.

Laspuña said they were looking for witnesses in the killing, but they still could not find anyone, who had seen the shooting.

Laspuña also said that they also checked the background of the victim and they found out that he had served time in jail for possession and selling of illegal drugs.

He said that Abatayo was released through plea bargaining this March 5, 2020.

With this, Laspuña said that one of the possible motives that they would be investigating would be if it was a drug-related killing./dbs