Barangay councilor shot dead in Manila

A barangay councilor was killed by still unidentified assailants in front of his office in Manila Tuesday morning.

Amir Casan, 42, of Barangay 384 Zone 39, was repeatedly shot in the head at close range, Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section investigators said.

He died two hours after he was rushed to the University of Santo Tomas Hospital.

MPD homicide section chief Senior Inspector Joselito de Ocampo said that before the incident, which happened at around 10:30 a.m., Casan was talking to the barangay’s secretary, Fatima Dedato, outside the barangay hall when two men approached them.

Without a word, one of the men took out a gun and shot Casan three times in the head before fleeing.

De Ocampo said Casan previously ran as chair in two consecutive barangay elections, and lost both times. He then ran as councilor, hoping to get the first kagawad position, but was relegated to second kagawad by a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling.

Ocampo said they are looking into vendetta as a possible motive behind the killing, but did not go into specifics to avoid jeopardizing follow-up operations for the suspects’ arrest.

Only last June 28, barangay chair Sainal Sharief was gunned down inside his house by two suspects. The killing was described by police investigators as the job of “a professional.”