Motorcycle-riding men kill 3 on Friday

Unidentified men on motorcycles gunned down three men in different places in the city on Friday.

The first victim was a piano technician who was killed Friday morning in front of his shop in barangay Labangon, the second victim was killed an hour later in barangay Tejero, and the third one was killed Friday evening inside his multi-cab along the highway in barangay Talamban.

In the first and third incidents, the assailants were riding on motorcycles with similar yellow-black-red painting but the police could not determine yet if the killers of the first were the same as those of the third.

The victim in the Talamban shooting was Buddy Denapo, 31, a messenger-collector of a 2Go Cargo Forwarder who was slain while driving his multi-cab along Gov. Cuenco Avenue in Nasipit, Talamban.

Witnesses told the police that the gunmen were riding a yellow-black-red motorcycle that trailed Denapo first, and as they drove to the side of his vehicle, the backrider fired at him. When Denapo stopped his vehicle, the assailants drove past him, stopped in front, then the backrider alighted to shot him once more.

Homicide policeman SPO1 Audie Pelayo said the assailants sped off towards Talamban proper leaving Denapo dead on the spot. Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation member Gerry Mercado found the victim slumped face down on the wheel.

Police have not yet established the motive of the shooting but they believed that it could be personal grudge and not robbery because the victim’s collection and personal belongings were intact. There was no empty shell at the crime scene except for a deformed slug.

Earlier that day, at around 11:30am, Norbert Sumicad, a piano technician and owner of a piano repair shop, was gunned down in front of his shop at Katipunan Street corner T. Masong Road in Labangon.

Sumicad killers were two men riding a yellow-black-red painted motorcycle but the police could not ascertain yet if they were the same gunmen who killed Denapo.

Rougly an hour later, 52-year-old Tomas Carbonilla, was gunned down by two men on a red motorcycle, without license plate, along Gaisano Street in Villagonzalo II of Tejero.

The victim was talking with his neighbor when the motorcycle-riding men arrived and shot him twice on the face and chest. He died on the spot. — Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE