Laoag City legal officer shot dead

CAMP FLORENDO, La Union – The legal officer of the Laoag City government was gunned down by a suspected gun-for-hire in his office last Tuesday morning.

Superintendent Wilson Joseph Lopez, city police chief, said the victim, lawyer Jose Antonio Pastor, 49, a former city councilor, suffered two gunshot wounds in the head and another in the back.

Lopez said Pastor had just arrived in his office from City Hall when the suspected hired killer barged into his office at around 11:15 a.m. and shot him several times with a caliber .45 pistol.

He said Pastor’s staffers did not notice the gunman as they were in the computer room.

Lopez said they were still looking into the motive behind Pastor’s killing and checking the cases he was handling.

Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos regional police director, ordered Lopez to thoroughly investigate the killing.

“We will leave no stone unturned until we arrest the suspect. We will do the best we can to solve this crime and give justice to the family of the victim. I ordered Col. Lopez to conduct a speedy investigation into the incident,” Bataoil said. – With Myds Supnad and Eva Visperas