CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – An unidentified man killed –vigilante-style – a suspected gang member at the Agora public market here early Saturday, the seventh such killing in the city within the last three weeks.
Senior Police Officer Howard Lagsa of the Agora police station identified the victim as Angelo Magdale, a resident of the city’s Tulay Cemento district.
Police records showed that Magdale, believed to be a member of Batang Mindanao 29, has been the seventh gang member killed here since August 16.
Last year, a dozen BM29 members were also executed in separate incidents after their release from jail. Police then downplayed the killings, saying they were simply the result of gang wars.
In Magdale’s case, the victim was sleeping inside a vehicle parked at the Agora when a man on a motorcycle arrived at past 12 a.m. and shot him in the eye. Witnesses told investigators that the killer wore a black jacket and a baseball cap, Lagsa said.
Magdale was rushed to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center here but he died about six hours later.