Ex-con gunned down in QC a week after getting out of prison

MANILA, Philippines—Gunmen shot dead a man who was just released from prison at a shanty community in Quezon City early Wednesday, police said.

Joker Tagumpay, 34, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body when he was fired upon at Cadena de Amor Street in Barangay (village) Central in Quezon City around 7:40 a.m., said Police Officer 2 Hermogenes Capili of Quezon City Police District’s Investigation unit.

The victim was wearing T-shirt and jeans.

Tagumpay was carrying a backpack where a certificate of discharge dated June 25 was found, showing he was jailed for illegal possession of firearms.

The assailants were composed of about two to five men, Capili quoted witnesses as saying.
Meanwhile, Senior Police Officer 3 Rafael de Peralta of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said a store owner told investigators he saw five men loitering around the corner of Cadena de Amor and Gumamela Streets in Barangay Central shortly before the shooting, which occurred around 7 a.m.

According to De Peralta, the witness went back to tending his store when he heard a commotion followed by bursts of gunfire from the direction where he had seen the five men.

When he went out to investigate, the store owner saw that the men were gone but he found the body of a man covered in blood, so he immediately reported the matter to barangay officials, De Peralta said.

De Peralta said the victim bore multiple bullet wounds in the head and body.

According to him, crime scene investigators recovered eight .45-caliber and 9-mm bullet shells and five slugs at the crime scene.

He said that Tagumpay could have temporarily rented a room at the squatter colony before returning to his hometown following his release from prison and that the killers must have tracked him down and killed him over an old grudge.

Tagumpay was identified through an NBP-issued certificate of discharge dated June 25 and an identification card found inside a bag he carried. With a report from  Jeannette I. Andrade, Philippine Daily Inquirer