A RANKING police officer died Sunday evening, April 2 in an apparent shooting spree by unidentified gunmen in Bontoc, Mountain Province.

Police Chief Inspector Benjamin Falangon Challoy, a member of the Highway Patrol Group, died while he was being brought to the Bontoc General Hospital after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

According to a police report, successive gun shots were heard around 9:46 p.m. by one of the victim's neighbor, identified as Clifton Fumakil Padyacan and saw three men running away from the crime scene.

The police officer was failed to reach the hospital alive due to gunshot wounds.

Three slugs of caliber .45 was extracted from the victim's body while six pieces of empty caliber .45 shells were recovered from the crime scene.

Authorities are now conducting a province wide man hunt to locate and identify the gunmen while motives are still being studied by the Mountain Province Provincial Police Office. (Roderick Osis)