Cop killed, village watchman wounded in E. Samar shooting

TACLOBAN CITY — A police officer was killed while a village security watchman was wounded on Saturday when unidentified armed men peppered them with bullets in a remote village in Borongan City, Eastern Samar.

Police Officer 1 Agerico Afable and Glicerio Herna, a village watchman, were guarding the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines at Calingatnan Elementary School in Barangay Calingatnan when four armed men suddenly arrived and shot them about 4 a.m.

“We cannot just say yet what exactly the motive of the suspects is if they are after the PCOS machines or what,” Inspector Jennifer Sumpo, Borongan police chief, said.

She said they had to wait first for the result of the investigation but added that policemen had been deployed to the school to secure the PCOS machines.

Sumpo said that the victims were in the area to secure the PCOS machines that would be used for Monday’s elections when they were shot.

After the shooting, she added, the gunmen then fled on foot toward the back of the school.

Afable was hit in the right shoulder and stomach, killing him on the spot, said Sumpo.

She said Herna was shot in the different parts of his body and was in critical condition in Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital in Borongan, about 14 kilometers from Calingatnan.

Sumpo said another barangay tanod, who was with Afable and Herna, managed to run away during the shooting. She declined to identify the possible witness.