Cop shot, wounded in Nivel Hills attack

Two unidentified gunmen shot and wounded yesterday a 53-year-old police officer shortly after his wife and children got off  their vehicle in Nivel Hills, barangay Busay, Cebu City.

PO3 Ramon Bolongaita, who  had just attended mass at the St. Therese Church in barangay Lahug with his family, was driving his Mitsubishi Adventure to a parking area near their home when he was attacked.

Two men on a motorcycle stopped near the driver’s side of Bolongaita’s car. The backrider then pulled out a gun and fired at Bolongaita, said SPO2 Rommel Bancog, Cebu City police homicide investigator.

Bolongaita was hit in the stomach, left shoulder and the left side of his body. He was rushed to the hospital, where he is recuperating from his wounds.

Bancog said the windshield of the victim’s white Mitsubishi Adventure had five bullet holes.

“The victim maneuvered a U-turn a few meters from his house to drop some acquaintances and then to his house for his family to disembark. He was on his way to a parking space located at the other side of the road when the assailants on a motorcycle arrived and shot him,” said Bancog in Cebuano.

The Cebu City police learned of the attack after the hospital, where Bolongaita was brought to, informed them.

Police recovered seven empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.

Maria Luisa, Bolongaita’s wife, told police that they had not received any death threats, and she did not know of anyone who had a grudge against her husband.

Bancog said the family members also could not describe the assailants since their view to the area where Bolongaita was shot was blocked. The family only saw the back of two men on a motorcycle fleeing towards Cebu City.

Bolongaita is a base policeman of the Police Regional Office (PRO-7). He is assigned at the Regional Personal Holding Admin Unit.