Camarines Norte village chief gunned down

LEGAZPI CITY –– A village chief of Labo town in Camarines Norte province was shot and killed at his residence by three unidentified gunmen on Monday morning, a police report said.

Major Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, said Geoffrey Castillo, 58, was sleeping with his wife in their house at Barangay Macogon when the gunmen, pretending to be villagers needing help, knocked at their door at around 12:30 a.m.

When the victim opened the door, one of the attackers fired several shots at him with a handgun, hitting Castillo in different parts of his body. The suspect fled immediately after the attack.

The victim died while being taken to the Camarines Norte Provincial Hospital in Daet town.

Meanwhile, in Cawayan town in Masbate province, a minor and his cousin were waylaid by motorcycle-riding gunmen on Valentine’s Day in Barangay Tuburan around 7:30 a.m.

Noe Cronje, 17, died on the spot while his cousin Ana Marie Conje, 23, was hurt during the gun attack.

The police report said the cousins were also riding a motorcycle driven by the victim and traversing a road on their way to Barangay Divisoria when the riding-in-tandem gunmen pursued and fired at them.

Police investigators on both incidents are still determining the identities of the suspects and the motive of the killings.

LZB