Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Suspect in ’99 blast shot in the head
A MAN who was tagged responsible for a grenade blast that killed four people nine years ago was shot dead in Carcar City, Cebu yesterday afternoon.
Allan Villegas Lapingcao suffered two gunshot wounds in the head, two in the chest and two in the back. He died instantly.
He was walking in Sitio Awayan, Barangay Poblacion 3 around 1:30 p.m. when the incident happened.
Two deformed slugs were recovered in the crime scene.
One gunman and three companions were tagged responsible for the shooting. Initial reports did not say if they had a getaway vehicle.
Supt. Teofilo Siclot, Carcar City police chief, said they did not have records of Lapingcao in the city, but there were reports he was involved in petty crimes.
He was also reportedly at odds with the group of Ryan Saducas of Barangay Liburon.
Lapingcao hails from Balao in the neighboring town of Barili but has reportedly been staying in Sitio Upper Lamacan, Valladolid, Carcar City, where his wife lives.
Siclot said Saducas’ group has threatened to kill Lapingcao.
Lapingcao’s name reportedly cropped up in their investigation on the shooting of a shoemaker in Barangay Valencia last month.
The death of Junmark Laogan was seen as a retaliation after the attack on Manuel Bacalan, 22, Roel Bargamento, 35, and Elmer Alcuizar, 49 in Sitio San Roque, Barangay Liburon the week earlier.
Lapingcao first got into trouble with the law when he was just 12 years old.
He was arrested for stealing roosters and fruits and got admitted to a rehabilitation center for minors in the southern town of Argao.
At 17, he was caught stealing an LPG tank in Talisay City.
He earned the nickname “Allan Demonyo” from inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center for being a bully and constantly picking fights.
He escaped the facility in October 1994, after making jokes about bolting the jail. He was recaptured two hours later hiding under the Mananga Bridge.
He was reportedly a member of the “Suyop-suyop Gang” as he had a tattoo of the initials “SSG” in his right middle finger.
On Sept. 25, 1999, he was tagged responsible for a grenade blast that killed four women and wounded 27 others, ending a benefit dance in Sitio Irid, Barangay Bitoon in the northern town of Daanbantayan.
He reportedly fled to Catigbian, Bohol right after the incident.
He was captured in January 2000, but not after a P105,000 bounty was offered for his arrest and after several months of police operations around Cebu Province.
He and brother-in-law Mario Fat were named respondents in the multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder case filed before the Municipal Circuit Trial Court in Bogo-Medellin-Daanbantayan. (MEA)
