A policeman was killed in a shootout with a group of men in barangay Looc, Danao City, northern Cebu.
SPO3 Jose Relampagos, 54, who was assigned in Tuburan town, succumbed to gunshot wounds in the head and other parts of the body.
Police arrested three persons tagged as suspects in the killing.
Arrested were Ronstel Casas, 27, resident of barangay Dungo-an, Danao City; Rollie Capin, 31, resident of barangay Tag-ubi, Compostela town; and Brave Alvaro, 19, resident of barangay Looc, Danao City.
The three denied involvement in the killing.
Police are still hunting three other suspects identified as Barok Alvaro, his father, Antonio Alvaro, and Michael Veloso, a former barangay captain.
Supt. Resty Santos, chief of Danao City police, said revenge could be the motive of the attack.
Santos said the policeman’s son was accused of shooting the brother of Barok in an argument.
Alvaro’s sibling escaped unharmed in the shooting.
Prior to the shooting, Relampagos went to a chapel in sitio Pulangyuta which was celebrating its fiesta Friday.
Relampagos then went to a cockfight. On his way there, the policeman chanced upon the suspects.
A shootout ensued, police said.
Santos said it was Barok who opened fire first while it was his father who finished off the policeman.
The policeman was declared dead when he was brought to a hospital.
Police said Barok was wounded in the foot during the shootout.
Police said Relampagos’ live-in partner identified the arrested persons as the ones who were involved in the shootout.
According to Santos, Barok is suspected to be involved in illegal drug trade in Danao.
Barok was a subject of a raid conducted by operatives of the intelligence branch of the Cebu Provincial Police Office but he eluded arrest, Santos said./CORRESPONDENT GABRIEL C. BONJOC