Tabloid sports editor shot dead in Taytay

A drunken sports editor of a weekly tabloid in Rizal and a barangay tanod were killed at the height of a scuffle for possession of an M16 Armalite rifle between the former and a policeman in Taytay town Sunday.

The victims, Celedonio Abines Jr., 36, sports editor of the Manila Star tabloid, sustained gunshot wounds in the right side of the belly, the bullet piercing his back while barangay tanod, Jose Luces, 47, was hit in the left waistline.

Abines and Luces died while being treated at separate hospitals.

Their assailant, PO2 Joselito Melendez, of the Taytay police station is now under the custody of his superiors.

Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad immediately created a task group headed by Superintendent Ed de Leon, deputy director for administration of the Rizal provincial police office to investigate the incident.

The task group composed of the local crime laboratory, Criminal Investigation and Detective Group (CIDG) and Rizal police will subject Melendez to a paraffin test, while his M16 firearm would undergo ballistic tests, said Palad.

Initial investigation showed that Renato Resureccion, a barangay tanod of Sitio Damayan sought for police assistance at the Barkadahan police outpost because of alleged trouble at Block 19, Purok 1, Sitio Damayan, Floodway, Barangay San Juan at about 1:50 p.m.

Duty officers Melendez and SPO2 Rodolfo Estrada, accompanied by the tanods including Lu­ces, proceeded to the area and saw Abines, his brother-in-law Edgar Reyes, and nephew Francis Lando having a drinking spree in front of the editor’s house.

Palad said the police officers invited Abines and his companions to the barangay hall to “talk things out.”

However, the trio ignored the responding police officers’ invitation and instead acted unruly and walked toward the direction of Melendez, who fired a warning shot in the air.