Man shot dead in San Nicolas

CEBU, Philippines - A man waiting for a ride in Barangay San Nicolas was shot dead by unidentified gunman Wednesday evening.

Police investigators found no identification cards from the victim, who is in his early 30s, wearing green shirt, maong pants and white slippers.

Wendy Malunar, 26, a physical therapist who witnessed the shooting incident, said that she saw the victim crossing C. Padilla Street around 10:00 pm when an unidentified person approached and shot him several times. The victim sustained several gunshot wounds in the head.

Ronaldo Layos, 30, PUJ conductor, told the police that few minutes before the shooting the victim asked him where to take a PUJ for SM Mall.

Not long after he gave the direction, the victim was gunned down. Layos immediately reported the incident to the San Nicolas Barangay Hall. The unidentified assailant immediately boarded a waiting motorcycle and fled towards the uptown area.

Elements of the San Nicolas Police Station and a team from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation rushed to the crime scene but found the victim already dead.

Crime scene investigators recovered three empty shells of Caliber .45 pistol near the victim’s body. Although the killing was described by homicide investigators as a “classic vigilante style” but the police clarified that there is no evidence to support that the vigilantes were responsible for it.

In the past few days, similar killings happened in the metropolis but the police belied suspicions that the vigilantes are back.  (FREEMAN)