Northern Samar judge shot dead inside cockpit, judge’s bodyguard kills gunman

CATARMAN, N. SAMAR, Philippines – A municipal judge in Northern Samar was gunned down inside a cockpit in Pambujan town Sunday afternoon, but his killer was in turn immediately felled by the victim’s bodyguard.

A witness to the incident told InterAksyon.com that Judge Reynaldo Espinar of the Laoang Municipal Trial Court was watching the cockfights at the Padcor arena in Poblacion, Pambujan, when the still unidentified gunman walked up to him and shot him three times in the head.

The gunman then fired warning shots in the air, causing a stampede in the arena but giving Espinar’s bodyguard, Wilfredo Saromenes, the chance to open fire and kill him.

Northern Samar Police provincial director, Senior Superintendent Daniel Mayoni, has ordered a thorough investigation into the motive of the murder of Espinar, while police probers initially said they are looking into the possibility of a revenge killing.

Earlier, relatives of one Roland Esparas, who was gunned down in the Laoang court on August 13, was reported as having suspected the judge of having a role in his death. —Interaksyon.com