Cop guns down fitness instructor in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY — A fitness instructor was gunned down by a police officer following a scuffle in Barangay Sto.Niño, Baybay City, Leyte on Friday night.

Samuel Managbanag, 31, suffered a gunshot wound on his body and was declared dead on arrival by physicians at the hospital.

Based on the report reaching the regional headquarters of Eastern Visayas police based in Palo town, Leyte, Managbanag had a drinking session with four others on the street at about 10:45 p.m., June 5.

Corporal Ronel Tapales, 32, who passed by the areas advised Managbanag and his companions to stop their session, citing a city ordinance that prohibits drinking liquor in public.

But instead of heeding the warning of the police officer, Managbanag challenged Tapales to a fistfight.

Tapales said he refused but Managbanag assaulted and attacked him.

The policeman ran away but he was allegedly cornered near a bamboo fence. Managbanag, he said,  tried to grab his service firearm, prompting him to shot the man.

Managbanag was rushed to the Western Leyte Provincial Hospital in Baybay City for medical attention but he did not make it alive.

Recovered from the crime scene was one empty shell of a caliber .9mm.