A VILLAGE official was shot and killed while one of the two suspects was arrested after the incident in Zamboanga Sibugay province, a top police official said Friday, April 29, 2022.
Police Colonel Albert Larubis, Zamboanga Sibugay police director, identified the fatality as Cristuto Halip, 67, a councilor in Guinoman village, Diplahan town.
Larubis said Halip was shot by one of the two men riding tandem in a motorcycle around 11:45 a.m. Thursday at the Guinoman village hall.
He said Halip was inside the barangay hall and about to go home when the suspects arrived and repeatedly shot the village official with the use of a caliber .45 pistol.
Halip was rushed to a hospital in Diplahan but was declared dead by the attending physician, according to Larubis.
Larubis said a slug and nine empty shells of caliber .45 pistol were recovered at the crime scene.
He said one of the two suspects, Richard Pamagan, 44, who was driving the getaway motorcycle, was arrested in a follow-up operation in Sampoli-B village, Diplahan, by joint police and military forces.
Larubis declined to comment whether the incident is election related or not except to say that follow-up operation is on to arrest the triggerman. (SunStar Zamboanga)