Village head shot dead in Camarines Sur

NAGA CITY–-A village chief of San Fernando town in Camarines Sur was shot dead while another village officer was hit by a stray bullet fired by an unknown assailant as the officials were talking at the barangay hall during a break in their session on Sunday night, police said Monday.

Roger Atacador, chairman of the village of Rizal and a retired police officer, was dead on the spot after he was shot three times by the gunman who silently approached Atacador as the latter was talking with fellow barangay official Sylvestre Nopia at around 7:30 p.m.

SPO3 Dante Reblon, the officer on the case, said Reblon said Atacador sustained two gunshot wounds on the right side of his torso and a gunshot wound on his forehead from a .45 caliber handgun used by the assailant.

Nopia was hit on the stomach by one of the bullets that missed Atacador and was brought to the hospital in the town for treatment, Reblon said.

Witnesses saw the gunman escape on foot to a side alley near the barangay hall after the shooting incident, according to Reblon.

He said they were still investigating the motive for the crime.

He said it was unlikely that it could be related to the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections scheduled on Oct. 28, 2013 since he was informed that Atacador no longer had any plan to seek a seat in the barangay polls.

According to Reblon, Atacador was a former police officer who retired in 2010 with the rank of inspector.