Cavite shooting leaves 4 dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – Four persons, including two women and a former police informant, were shot dead by three assailants in Dasmariñas City, Cavite Monday night.

Former informant Renante Bulatao, alias Spider, and his companions – Jayson Legaspi, 27; Marjorie Ellazo and an unidentified woman – died at the scene due to several gunshot wounds, said city police chief Superintendent Carlos Balde.

Police recovered 20 bullet shells for a caliber .45 pistol and drug paraphernalia from the crime scene.

Balde created a special task group to investigate the killings. He said among the possible motives are drugs and vengeance.

Balde said Bulatao and Legaspi were friends while the two women were their visitors.

The four were reportedly engaged in a pot session at a house in Barangay St. Peter 1 when the three assailants barged in and shot them at around 10:30 p.m.

The gunmen fled on a motorcycle.

Balde said investigators have yet to secure footage taken by closed-circuit television cameras installed in the village.

Senior Superintendent Joselito Esquivel, Cavite police director, ordered his men to determine if the killings were related to a recent shooting that left a woman dead and seven others wounded, and other drug-related cases in Imus and Bacoor City.