Rookie policeman killed in broad daylight assault
A neophyte policeman was gunned down by two men on board a motorcycle yesterday morning along the corner of Muelle Loney and Delgado Sts. in City Proper, Iloilo City.
Police Officer 1 Joemarie Lamis of the Guimaras Public Safety Management Company was on his way home to Brgy. Alalasan, La Paz district when he was killed.
He was rushed to the Iloilo St. Paul’s Hospital, where he was declared dead.
As of press time, Police Station 1 chief, Senior Insp. Eliezer Baclagon, said they could not confirm if Lamis died due to his gunshot wound or the impact of his fall.
The victim was wearing civilian clothes and was not wearing a crash helmet while driving.
His service firearm was found inside his backpack containing his clothes.
Lamis just came from Guimaras province and was believed to have been tailed by the assailants after he left the wharf.
Investigators found two spent shells of caliber .45 pistol and another shell from a caliber .9mm pistol in the area where Lamis was shot.
A witness, who knew the victim and brought him to the hospital, saw the face of one of the assassins.
But Baclagon said they have yet to ask the witness to help them come up with an artist’s sketch of the assailant.
Senior Supt. Dennis Basngi, director of Iloilo City Police Office, said they have yet to rule on the motive behind the killing of Lamis.
It is possible though that it is work-related, he said.
Lamis entered the police service in 2002. His mother unit is the ICPO but he was assigned on detached service with the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division.
“He was, of course, exposed to some intelligence works on anti-criminality and anti-drugs. So we are seeing that angle as the motive of his death,” Basngi said.
In September this year, the Police Regional Office 6 headquarters ordered the relief of Lamis and two others from the ICPO. They were re-assigned to the Guimaras Provincial Police Office on a “command decision.”*
