‘Police asset’ shot dead

CEBU, Philippines - A woman who was allegedly a police asset was shot dead by two unidentified persons in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City yesterday dawn.

Helen Inot, 48, died of multiple gunshot wounds to her head, chest, and neck.

Police Officer 1 Michael Angelo Singson of the Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section said that prior the incident, Inot played mahjong in the house of her neighbor Stephen Labang in Salvador Street, where a wake was being held.

One of the assailants who was armed with a handgun and reportedly wearing a full-faced helmet suddenly barged into Labang's house and shot Inot several times.

The assailant then left the area together with his back-up who was also allegedly wearing a helmet and a batman mask. They both headed towards Tres de Abril Street.

"Daghang tawo, Naa’y nagtong-its, naay nag-inom, naa’y nag-mahjong. Pero wa'y laing punteriya, siya ra. Wa ma'y laing naamong," Singson said.

Singson said witnesses reported that Inot was a police asset in Cebu City, which they are now veryifying.

When the police responded to the crime scene, they discovered the victim lying face down and already lifeless.

Three empty shells from a cal. 45 pistol were recovered at the crime scene while two crash helmets and a batman mask believed to be the ones used by the culprits were found abandoned at a small alley approximately 100 meters away from the crime scene.

Singson said three homosexuals who were having a drinking session near a dim-lighted area, where the assailants allegedly passed by, saw two men as if jogging nearby.

According to the three, one of the men was wearing a white shirt while the other one was wearing a dark-colored shirt.

Singson said they will check if they were the same persons who killed Inot.

A closed-circuit television camera was installed by Barangay Labangon, in one of the lampposts in Salvador Street but it was reported to be defective.

The police officer said they will still try to retrieve the footages of the CCTV to check if the assailants were possibly recorded.

The body of Inot was brought to St. Francis Funeral Homes. — Grace Melanie I. Lacamiento/NSA (FREEMAN)