Thursday, October 09, 2008 Jeweler gunned down By Jovi T. de Leon
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- A small-scale gold buyer and watch repairman was gunned down at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday as he was opening his ambulant stall in front of the Candaba Kitchenette along Consunji Street in this city.
Police identified the victim as Ariel Malungkot, 30, of Villa Barosa II in Dolores village here.
Malungkot, whom investigators said was a nephew of a barangay captain of this city, was fatally shot in the back of the head and his right chest.
Police chief Benjamin Medina said he personally rushed to the crime scene upon receiving reports of the early morning incident and led its investigation.
According to Medina, initial investigation showed that as the victim was getting ready to open his watch repair stall, a man dressed in a red shirt and his face partially covered with an orange bull cap, approached Malungkot and shot from behind, hitting the back of his head with bullet exiting in the forehead.
The assailant, the police chief said, finished off the victim with a second shot to the chest.
Witnesses meanwhile said the gunman walked casually towards the direction of Barangay San Jose after shooting the victim.
No empty shells were recovered from the crime scene.
Medina said they have yet to determine the motive behind the killing of Malungkot as the city police's Scene-of-the-Crime Operatives (Soco) immediately went to action upon his instruction.
Medina vowed to dig deeper into the case and confirm information regarding the character of the victim and his assailant.
He also alerted Cambilans (police visibility outposts) within the vicinity of the crime scene to look out for the gunman and his possible cohorts.
Witnesses described the gunmen as short, wearing a red t-shirt, and a red cap that was drawn down to cover half of his face.
Vendors near the victim's stall said they were shocked upon learning that Malungkot was killed, as they described him to be simple and helpful. The victim had many regular customers or "suki."
Aside from repairing watches, they said the victim was into buying and selling broken gold and silver jewelry and old coins.
"Occasionally," vendors said, the victim "would accept expensive watches, which customers pawn for a price."
A fellow watch repairman near his stall said he saw the victim enter the adjacent café and fix himself up in front of a mirror prior to the shooting.
He said he heard the gunshots but did not see the victim's assailant.
The family and relatives of Malungkot refused to comment on the incident as they took the victim's body to Tumang funeral parlor.
