Police‘asset’ gunned down

CEBU, Philippines - Another shooting incident took place at Purok Sampaguita, sitio Canday-ong, Barangay Calindagan of Dumaguete City last night, which resulted in the death of 36-year-old Felixberto Somoza II, a resident of Sibulan, Negros Oriental.

Somoza, a “deep penetration agent” of the police and member of the REACT, sustained multiple gunshot wounds from a .45-caliber pistol, fired by three assailants who were in their 20s and 30s.

Police said Somoza was a police agent in Canday-ong and was instrumental in the arrests of several drug personalities in the area.

Somoza was seen yesterday morning being handcuffed by elements of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group and the Special Operations Group, to stage a “fake arrest” that would bail him out from a “burned identity” and suspicion from drug suspects that he was working for the government.

However, he returned to the area at past 7 p.m. to get his motorcycle, left behind that morning, but the three perpetrators were already there waiting for him.

Superintendent Jovito Atanacio, Dumaguete Police chief, supervised the investigation of last night’s killing of Somoza, but only got few details on the identities of the assailants who witnesses said took turns in shooting the victim while already sprawled on the ground.

Initial investigations disclosed the three men were first seen buying refreshments from a store, three to five meters from the crime scene, and waited for Somoza who was in another store buying cigarettes.

Atanacio said his men recovered slugs and fired empty shells of .45-caliber bullets, which will be crossmatched with those taken from other shooting incidents, to determine if the same firearm was used in the killing of Somoza. —Juancho R. Gallarde (FREEMAN)