SURIGAO CITY, Philippines – Gunmen entered a protestant church in Surigao del Norte and shot dead a preacher in the middle of his sermon Sunday.
Police identified the victim as Allan Ursabia, 45, who was shot by two armed men in front of his congregants at around 9.30 a.m. in the Surigao del Norte town of San Francisco, some nine kilometers south-west of this city.
“The church was filled with churchgoers— about 80 to 100 —when the assailants entered the place of worship area and shot the pastor,” said Police Officer 3 Era Campillos, the case investigator. A female lookout was seen outside the Lord Jesus Christ Fellowship church in Barangay Jubgan, a coastal village of around 400 people, as the two men pumped bullets on the preacher, said Campillos.
The assailants fled in an unknown direction on a red motorcycle, police said.
Ursabia was brought to a hospital in this city but was declared dead on arrival.
Police said nine empty shells and two slugs belonging to a .45 pistol were found at the crime scene.
Campillos said they have been looking at several angles, including personal grudge, as possible motives of the crime.
Josephine, the victim’s wife, had told police that the killing might have something to do with the legal assistance her husband was providing to a jailed relative.
Police said the assailants appeared to be “hired killers.”
“We’re ruling out the possibility that it was perpetrated by communist rebels,” Campillos said, noting that the town has been among the areas in the province with minimal rebel presence.