DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines ? A former Army soldier was shot dead by a group of men in front of his wife and two children in Calasiao, Pangasinan, on Sunday afternoon.

In a report on Monday, Superintendent Rodelio Samson, Calasiao police chief, said Adel Malapit, 37, died instantly from several bullet wounds in different parts of his body.

He said Malapit was driving the family's Toyota Corolla sedan, with his family members and three men as passengers, when a van cut him off along the Tebeng Road in Barangay (village) San Miguel at 5:30 p.m.

When Malapit stopped the car, three men waiting in front of a nearby store approached and shot him.

Malapit?s wife, Police Officer 2 Mary Jane Malapit and their two children aged two and six, were unhurt and were able to get out of the car.

Their three companions at the car?s back seat also escaped unhurt. Samson said police recovered 28 empty shells from an M16 Armalite rifle and an empty cartridge from a shotgun from the crime scene.