CamSur mayor dies in hospital

NAGA CITY—The mayor of a Camarines Sur town who was shot in the head by a lone gunman on Saturday died at 1:20 a.m. on Sunday, according to his doctor at the hospital.

Dr. Sheyne Calleja, of Mother Seton Hospital, said Lupi Mayor Raul Matamorosa, 45, did not survive the operation that lasted almost eight hours.

Calleja said doctors were trying to save Matamorosa’s life after a bullet fired from behind was lodged inside his head.

Matamorosa had just brought in his plasma television for repair at a service center at Diversion Road in this city when he was shot at close range at the back of his head by an unidentified gunman, according to city police investigator SPO1 Julio Luis Caparroso.

Caparroso said Matamorosa was about to leave the service center at around 3:45 p.m. and was opening his car’s door when the gunman approached him from behind and shot the mayor on the head.

He said an empty shell of .45-cal. pistol was recovered at the crime scene, which is just a few meters from the hospital where Matamorosa died.

Matamorosa, a Liberal Party member, was not running for any position in the 2013 elections but has endorsed his brother Roberto to run for mayor in Lupi town.

Caparroso said police investigators were still determining the motive of the shooting. Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon