Former Medellin, Cebu mayor shot dead while under hospital arrest

MANILA, Philippines – A former mayor of Medellin, Cebu was shot dead while under hospital arrest Tuesday night.

A report from Police Regional Office – 7 stated that Ricardo Rodriguez Ramirez was waylaid and shot dead by around 15 armed men while confined at Bogo-Medellin Corporation Medical Center in Barangay Luy-a in Medellin at around 11:50 p.m.

“Four vehicles reportedly arrived at the hospital. The armed men disarmed the guards including the jail personnel securing Ramirez. They also confiscated the cellular phones of the medical staff,” Police Major Audie Pelayo, Medellin police chief, told the Inquirer.

Pelayo added that the gunmen asked a  nurse to accompany them to the room of Ramirez.

Upon seeing the armed men, Ramirez sought refuge inside his private comfort room where he was shot to death.

Ramirez was with his son’s girlfriend and a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology staff at the time of the attack.

Both were unharmed.

The hospital has no closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs).

The gunmen fled aboard four vehicles after the attack.

Ramirez, who served as Medellin mayor for nine years, was tagged by the police as a  “high-value target” in the war on drugs.

Ramirez was arrested in 2017 for possession of illegal firearms.

Further investigation and pursuit operations against the gunmen are ongoing. (Editor: Gilbert S. Gaviola)

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