Dumaguete village exec slain in front of watchmen, officials

DUMAGUETE CITY –– A village chief in this city was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen while he was on duty outside the village outpost on Tuesday night.

Harrison Gonzales of Barangay 1 (Tinago) was gunned down by a lone gunman, who was accompanied by four other men, onboard separate motorcycles in front of village officials and watchmen, who had been on duty with him to implement the nightly curfew in the village.

Gonzales, 52, was rushed to the Holy Child Hospital but was declared dead an hour after he was shot. Police Master Sergeant Anthony Alanano, case investigator of the Dumaguete City Police Station, said they recovered eight empty shells and two deformed slugs of a .45 caliber pistol from the crime scene.

The local government of this city on Wednesday also released the closed-circuit television footage of the shooting, which may help authorities in their investigation.

Gonzales’ death was the second consecutive shooting incident in this city this week.

On Monday morning, unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen also shot and killed a businesswoman in front of her husband in Barangay Mangnao, Dumaguete City.

The police identified the victim as Rowena Bangcat, 49.

Initial police investigation showed that Bangcat was on her way home with her husband Rodrigo, 54, when the gunmen shot her multiple times. Police have yet to identify the perpetrators and the motive behind the two killings.

LZB