2 dead as motorcycle-riding gunmen strike in Caloocan, Manila

Two men were killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in the cities of Manila and Caloocan on Thursday, just a few days before Christmas.

The shooting incident in Caloocan City left a former barangay official dead while in Manila, the victim was a tricycle driver suspected of being a former drug user, the police said.

At 1:21 p.m. on Thursday in Caloocan City, Melvin Casipit, 53, was shot twice in the head by a man who, along with three other masked companions, barged into the house of his friend, Alberto Banal, on 2nd Avenue in Barangay 120.

Case investigator PO1 Niño Paguirigan said that as Casipit was killed, four other suspects on motorcycles served as lookouts outside his friend’s house.

Casipit’s wife told the police that he was a former barangay councilor although she did not say when or where he was elected, Paguirigan added.

A witness told the police that he heard the gunman, who was wearing a yellow jacket and a red cap, tell the victim: “Go ahead, scream for help!”

Police have yet to establish the motive for the killing but Paguirigan said they were looking at a person of interest who was once charged by Casipit with a physical injuries case.

In Manila, Von Ace Cristo, 37, died at 10:50 p.m. on Thursday after being shot repeatedly by at least five motorcycle-riding suspects, said case officer SPO4 Milbert Balinggan.

Cristo’s brothers, Dennis and Mark Roy, told the police that he was a former drug dependent. But the police have yet to determine whether he was on the barangay watch list.

Cristo was standing beside a jeepney parked on Lope de Vega in Sta. Cruz when he was approached by the suspects and shot dead.