Vice mayor gunned down

ILOILO CITY – A festive night turned bloody after a gunman killed the vice mayor of the town of Tapaz, Capiz along with his bodyguard and a village chief late Saturday.

Police said Vice Mayor Victor Gardose, his bodyguard Anton Gequillo and Karida barangay chairman Leonardo Jimeno were shot at close range by a lone assailant armed with an automatic hand gun.

Witnesses said the gunman approached and shot the victims several times as they were alighting from an owner-type jeep.

Gardose was among the guests of honor at the coronation of the fiesta queen at the civic center of Barangay Taft.

Witnesses told police that two men on a motorcycle were tailing the vice mayor’s jeep and stopped a distance away when the victims were about to alight from the vehicle.

One of them, wearing a bonnet over his head, approached the jeep and fired his pistol at the victims several times.

Police said Gardose died instantly from a gunshot wound on the head while Gequillo and Jimeno suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses said the gunman even fired warning shots before escaping.

Police regional director Chief Superintendent Geary Barias immediately formed a task force and appointed deputy regional director for operations Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal to investigate the killings.

"Right now there is an ongoing investigation (by the Tapaz police). We are looking at all possible angles. As much as possible, we will have good results in 24 hours," Rafal said.

"It’s too early for us to say that we already have a breakthrough. But we are following up leads," he said. - Ronilo Pamonag