BAGUIO CITY -- A Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge was shot dead Monday night in a barangay in the town of Tabuk in Kalinga Province, initial reports from the Kalinga Provincial Police Office said.
Two unidentified assailants gunned down Tabuk RTC Branch 25 Judge Melnar Lammawin around 6:30 p.m. Monday, Supt. James Dogao, provincial police director, told Sun.Star in a phone interview.
Witnesses described the gunmen to be around 5'6" and 5'4" in height and said they were armed with .45 caliber pistols.
Senior Supt. Eugene Martin, deputy regional director for operations, said Lammawin was shot at point blank range while he buying bread with his wife as he regularly did at about the same time everyday at the same bakery.
The judge sustained a gunshot wound on his head and two on his neck. He was rushed to the Almora General Hospital in Bolanao, Tabuk but died while he was being treated.
"Puwedeng ilang araw na siyang sinusundan ng mga suspek bago naisagawa ang pagbaril sa kanya," Martin surmised. (The suspects could have followed him for several days already before killing him.)
Dogao said his office is investigating the incident.
Chief Supt. Rowland Albano, Cordillera police director, already ordered the creation of Task Force Lammawin to go after the judge's killers.
The group will be composed of agents from the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, intelligence group and local office. (Cheryl Cruz and Ernie Olson Jr.)
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