Cop shot dead in front of son

CEBU, Philippines - A police officer died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the presence of his son and shop mechanic in his motorcycle parts shop in Sitio Kabaloy, Barangay Pajac in Lapu-Lapu City Wednesday night.

Police Officer 1 Romel Gilig, 33, a resident of Sitio Bukid-Bukid, Barangay Pajac whose present assignment is with the Supply Section of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office was wounded on his neck.

The eight-year-old son of Gilig saw the incident but said he vaguely remembers the face of the gunman.

“Padulong mi uli ato, kita ko sa nagpusil,” the boy said to The Freeman.

He said he was not able to cry in the midst of the crime.                “Kulbaan rako”, he added, saying that the mechanic, Mark Lomongsod, pulled him over to safety.

The boy said he was just accompanying his father to the shop.

Lomongsod, 24, a resident of Sitio Guiso, Barangay Agus, reported to homicide prober Police Officer 3 Lydo Pinos that around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, Gilig dropped by the shop and informed him that he will be back at the place.

The victim reportedly went back at around 8 o’clock in the evening and they fixed the cover seat of a blue and grey colored scooter-type motorcycle owned by the policemen.

Gilig invited Lomongsod for a dinner in his house after fixing the motorcycle but the mechanic reportedly noticed someone in the dark, just near Gilig’s shop.

He went to ask the stranger, who was dressed in red shirt and white shorts and partly bald, about his identity but the man replied he was just waiting for a tricycle to ride.

Lomongsod said that when they are about to go, Gilig asked him to check the acetylene hose.

The mechanic reportedly heard a gunshot and quickly went back.

He was shocked to see Gilig with blood in his head and the man he was talking earlier ran towards the dark portion towards Mutual Homes Subdivision.

PO3 Pinos said the gunman shot Gilig with an undetermined firearm. The undetermined caliber of bullet entered the policeman’s neck and exited through the left part of his head.

He was reportedly rushed to the Mactan Doctor’s Hospital but the attending physician pronounced him dead at around 10:16 in the evening.

The said shop was newly opened this Tuesday.

Alex Gilig, 27, the victim’s brother told The Freeman that his brother does not have any bad blood with anyone.

The victim is the eldest among the family who has a wife and three children ages 8, 5 and 3, Alex said.

Lapu-Lapu City Homicide Police chief Inspector Zenaido Pastorfide said they are yet to identify and arrest the gunman.

Gilig entered the police force in 2010 and was reported to be a former tourist police in the city. — Christell Fatima M. Tudtud/JRS (FREEMAN)