A vegetable trader was shot to death on his way home after he delivered his goods at the public market of Balamban Tuesday evening.
Police reports stated that 51-year-old Dionisio Tabor, a resident of barangay Magsaysay in Balamban, died at the hospital after he was shot by an unidentified gunman near a gasoline station where he was about to fill his vehicle before going home.
Balamban policeman PO2 Hannibal Larida said that Tabor was holding a P500 bill ready for his fuel but as he maneuvered his vehicle at a corner towards the gasoline station, the gunman approached the right side of the multi-cab and fired at Tabor once.
Tabor was hit on his right arm but the bullet pierced into his armpit and right chest. The assailant left the scene immediately while people nearby took Tabor to the Balamban District Hospital where he died five hours later.
A witness, William Ibales, was with his wife on their multi-cab and they were trailing Tabor’s vehicle on their way to the poblacion. He said that they saw a man approached Tabor’s vehicle but they never heard any gunfire before the man left.
Ibales told the police that the gunman was about 5ft 7ins tall, of medium-built and with long hair.
The Ibales couple said they saw Tabor’s vehicle stopped so they alighted from their own vehicle to check what happened. They were then surprised to see the driver’s door of Tabor’s multi-cab already opened with Tabor already bloodied and trying to get out of his vehicle.
According to Larida, Chief Insp. Anthony Bagarinao, the town police chief, had conducted a background check on the victim and found something about a land dispute that he said could have been a motive in the killing.
Tabor’s neighbors had also related to the police about some verbal fights with his relatives over a piece of land.
Police believed that the assailant might be a hired killer and that nobody at the crime scene was familiar of him. They are now working to identify the killer and the mastermind, and the motive of the killing. – Flor Z. Perolina/RAE