Bakeshop owner gunned down

A bakery owner was shot to death while driving home in barangay Prenza, Balamban town, Cebu.

Basilisos Belda, 38, owner of Mercy Bakeshop, was first shot in the back. The assailants finished him with another shot to the head, said police.

Police said Belda and his baker Benjamin Condrillon, 23, went to barangay Prenza to buy a sack of charcoal. They were on their way back to barangay Vito when the attack occurred around 7 p.m. last Monday.

Belda drove the motorcycle with Condrillon as backrider.

Condrillon was unharmed.

Belda’s relatives asked the police to investigate Condrillon. They said they wondered why it was only Belda who was attacked.

Condrillon told police that two men, who wore bonnets, flagged them down along a road in sitio Goya.

PO1 Rodney Cambarijan said that according to Condrillon, one of the men shot Belda at close range.

A wounded Belda ran for about 20 meters before he fell.

The gunman assailant approached Belda and finished him off by shooting him in the temple.

P01 Cambarijan said Condrillon claimed that he did not run because of fear that the other suspect would harm him.

Condrillon only sustained minor burn in his right arm.

Police said Condrillon was willing to cooperate in the investigation. He will remain under police custody until he will be cleared from any suspicion.

Condrillon was the lone witness in the crime, said police./WITH CORRESPONDENT RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL