Two friends gunned down by "vigilantes"

Two men were shot to death inside a house along Mabini Street in barangay Hippodromo, last Monday night. Robert Limbaga, 37, and his friend Dante Gaviola, 38, were shot several times by an assailant who entered the house of Gaviola.

Based on the investigation conducted by the police, Limbaga was inside the room of Gaviola last Monday night when the assailant, his face covered by cloth, suddenly barged into the room of the victim and shot Limbaga in the face and Gaviola in the back of a head with a handgun, killing them instantly.

Earlier, a witness said they saw the assailant disembark from a yellow multicab and walk toward the house of Gaviola. After they heard several gunshots the assailant walked out of the house, got back on the multicab last seen speeding towards St. Jude Street. The witness added that the multicab's plate number was either YYG-218 or YYG-278. Responding policemen recovered a Nokia 3310 cellphone, two empty shells of 9mm cal. pistol and assorted drug paraphernalia.

They said that both victims might have been taking illegal drugs before they were killed, they could not say if the two are victims of so-called vigilantes operating in the city. - Flor Z. Perolina