ILOILO City – A motorcycle-riding gunman peppered a 41-year-old tricycle driver with bullets in Barangay Sooc, Arevalo district.
Police identified the victim, Bengie Abacajin of Barangay Santo Niño Sur, Arevalo, as a drug surrenderer.
Abacajin was driving his tricycle at around 6:45 p.m. last Friday when four motorcycle-riding people – two riders in one motorcycle – waylaid him at a bridge.
One of them fired at him, Iloilo City Police Office director Senior Superintendent Martin Defensor said, citing witnesses.
From what the police have gathered, Abacajin was a caretaker of a rest house owned by lawyer Edeljulio Romero. Romero himself was killed in Barangay Culasi, Roxas City on the same day.
Abacajin sustained gunshot wounds on the body. He was pronounced dead at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao.
Four empty shells of a .45 pistol were recovered from the crime scene.
Police have yet to identify the suspects as of this writing.
“The crime scene was in a dark area. There were no houses nearby,” said Defensor.
Abacajin turned himself in to the police amid the tougher government crackdown on drugs in 2016, said Defensor.
He was the fourth drug personality killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in this capital city in September.
On Sept. 7 at around 9:30 a.m. Don Azucena was attacked while waiting for a jeepney ride in Zone 4, Barangay Calumpang, Molo.
The 42-year-old resident of Barangay North Baluarte, Molo died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Azucena surrendered to the police in 2016 and has completed a drug rehabilitation program.
Several hours later the 41-year-old Rolando Puda Jr. was shot dead in Barangay Ingore, La Paz.
Four days later, or on Sept. 11, at around 5 p.m. tricycle driver Gerardo Mamarion Jr. was also peppered with bullets in Barangay Ungka, Jaro.
His father Gerardo Sr. claimed the victim, a 25-year-old resident of Barangay Tacas, Jaro, had long stopped using shabu.
All these three previous killings remained unsolved as of this writing./PN
