2 village councilors ambushed, 1 killed
A village councilor was shot dead and another was wounded in an ambush Tuesday night on the island-province of Guimaras.
Efren Gajardo Jr. died of a bullet wound in the head while his companion Vicente Magpusao suffered grazed wounds in different parts of the body, said Senior Supt. Leo Puertollano, Guimaras provincial police director.
The two victims, both councilors of Barangay Buluangan in the capital town of Jordan, were on a motorcycle when they were ambushed by at least two heavily armed assailants at around 6:30 p.m. in a hilly and forested area in Sitio Igbantung in the barangay. The area is around 7 km from the town proper of Jordan.
The assailants were waiting for them," Puertollano said in a telephone interview.
Puertollano said they conducted pursuit operations upon learning of the attack but the assailants already fled when they arrived at the crime scene. Investigators recovered 13 empty shells of an M-16 rifle from the ambush site.
Puertollano said Magpusao was the most likely target of the attack as he is involved in a land dispute involving relatives of his wife, said Puertollano citing testimonies of Magpusao's wife.
He said they have identified the suspects but are also conducting further investigation on other possible motives of the attack.
Magpusao was taken to the Guimaras Provincial Hospital while the remains of Gajardo lie at the Somo Funeral Homes in Jordan.