Pharmacy agent gunned down

A drugstore agent, also known as a canvasser, was shot dead by a lone assailant near the gate of the Vicente Sotto Medical Center (VSMMC) on B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City.
Louie Labitad, 26, alias Lupin, died of two gunshot wounds in the head and chest. A retired police official and a woman were wounded after they were hit by stray bullets.
Labitad, a resident of sitio Kawayan, barangay Sambag Dos, was a nephew of slain illegal drug suspect Crisistomo Llaguno. Llaguno was gunned down in a campaign sortie in 2010.
Police said three angles are being looked  into as possible motives for the killing.
Senior Insp. Jul Mohamad Jamiri, chief of the homicide section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said investigators are checking if the killing was drug-related or the victim’s previous theft and robbery cases had something to do with the attack.
“He had a lot of cases at the Theft and Robbery Section,” said Jamiri in Cebuano.
Jamiri said Labitad was jailed previously due to his involvement in petty crimes.
Police said it was also possible that the killing had something to do with the man’s being a canvasser.
Police said Labitad had earned enemies for forcing customers to go to the pharmacy where he was an agent.
“He allegedly forced customers not to go to other pharmacies,” said Jamiri.
Drugstore agents wait near hospitals for potential customers and bring them to the drugstore.
According to the police, Labitad had just arrived at the area when the assailant who waited for him shot him around 9 a.m. yesterday.
The assailant, who wore a full-faced helmet, fled on board a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.
Retired Col. Virgilio Noval, 64, of barangay Maghaway, Talisay City, had just disembarked from a taxi when he was hit by a bullet. He was wounded in the abdomen.
Angelita Tapdasan of Carcar City was standing by the roadside when she was hit by a bullet in the left leg.
Noval and Tapdasan were admitted at the VSMMC.