Gunmen on bike kill head engineer of gov’t hospital

The head engineer of a government hospital in Manila died in an attack by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Caloocan City on Wednesday night.

The police identified the victim as William Velasco, 34, the chief engineer of Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila and a resident of Caloocan City.

Based on police reports, the incident happened at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday after he boarded a jeepney at the corner of 10th Avenue and Rizal Avenue Extension.

Shortly after, two men on a motorcycle cut the jeepney off and fired at Velasco. The gunmen then fled toward A. Mabini Street.

The jeepney driver brought the victim to Caloocan City Medical Center, but doctors there pronounced him dead on arrival.

The Caloocan police said that Velasco sustained two gunshot wounds in the back. A slug from a gun of still unknown caliber was recovered from the crime scene.

According to investigators, they were focusing on robbery as the possible motive for the attack after witnesses claimed that the gunmen demanded something from the victim and, when he refused, they shot him.

On their part, the victim’s relatives said that the attack may be work-related as the victim reportedly wanted to resign because of alleged anomalies at his job.

However, Caloocan police chief Senior Supt. Bernard Tambaoan refused to speculate on the motive of the gunmen, saying the case was still under investigation. With a report from Mark Ersan D. Ate