Albay police official felled by sniper’s bullet

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LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The deputy police chief of Libon town in Albay was shot and killed at dawn Tuesday by a sniper believed to be a member of a criminal gang involved in high-profile killings.

Senior Inspector Joerem Kallos was leading a police checkpoint when shot, said Senior Superintendent Marlo Meneses, Albay police provincial director.

Kallos and his team were in Sitio (sub-village) Pinagbadilan in Barangay Buga, a hinterland village of Libon town, to provide security for a police team that was to serve a warrant of arrest to alleged crime boss Gilbert Concepcion.

Concepcion is reportedly a leader of the gun-for-hire group that killed Nelson Morales, the former city engineer of Makati City when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still mayor.

Morales, a close ally of Binay, was then eyeing the mayoral seat of Malinao when shot at the town’s Catholic church compound after attending a wedding with his sister, then Mayor Alice Morales.

Meneses said the sniper shot Kallos in the back as elements of the Libon police, Albay Police Public Safety Command and the Regional Public Safety Batallion led by Chief Inspector Rodel Pescuela were trying to serve the warrant for Concepcion.

The police failed to arrest the gang leader after suspected gang members opened fire and engaged lawmen in a firefight.

Kallos was rushed to the Josefina Belmonte Memorial District Hospital in Ligao City but was declared dead on arrival. With Ma. April Mier