ILOILO City – Two motorcycle-riding assassins fatally shot a cousin of slain drug lord Melvin Odicta in Barangay Tabucan, Mandurriao district.
Agustin Odicta, 52, of Barangay Malipayon, City Proper was a drug surrenderer. He sustained six gunshot wounds on the head and body and died on the spot.
The shooting happened Thursday around 6:30 p.m. Agustin was tending a fruit stall owned by a relative, according to Major Jonathan Pinuela, Mandurriao police chief.
Wearing helmets and masks, the suspects first parked near Agustin, said Pinuela. He cited footage of a closed circuit television from a neighboring establishment.
The backrider, without alighting from the motorcycle, repeatedly shot Agustin.
“A nearby security camera was able to record the shooting but the suspects’ faces were fully covered, thus not much of help to the police in identifying them,” Pinuela said.
The gunmen fled towards Molo district after the incident.
Recovered from the crime scene were six spent bullets of a .9mm-caliber pistol.
Meanwhile, Malipayon punong barangay, Frederick Hormillosa, said Agustin was near to graduating from the government’s “aftercare” drug rehabilitation program.
He previously surrendered to the police in connection with “Oplan Tokhang” sometime in 2016.
But Pinuela said they would not automatically conclude the killing was drug-related.
The incident may have been sparked, too, by a personal grudge or conflict in business./PN