A POLICE officer from Bohol who had been absent without official leave (Awol) was shot dead by an unknown assailant along Zodiac Drive, Pleasant Homes, Barangay Punta Princesa yesterday dawn.
The victim was identified as PO3 Ben Serohijos, 44, a native of Dauis, Bohol who was formerly assigned to Loay Police Station.
“After he went Awol, he worked as a security supervisor in a security agency in the North Reclamation Area,” SPO1 Winston Magdadaro of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) said.
Magdadaro said that the victim went Awol and didn’t report to his reassignment in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
An informant said that at 1:20 a.m., he heard three gunshots in the area and when he went outside, he saw the victim on the ground.
Serohijos succumbed to three bullet wounds in his head from a caliber .45 pistol.
“He was hit at close range,” Magdadaro said.
A small sachet of shabu and aluminum foil were found inside his wallet together with his Philippine National Police (PNP) IDs, one of which bore the ranks of
The victim had been Awol after failing to report to his new assignment in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
PO3 and another for SPO1, which turned out to be fake, the homicide investigator said.
Authorities are also investigating why the victim was in the area when his security agency said that his duties as a supervisor didn’t include patrolling there.
Investigators are looking into a personal grudge as a possible motive.
Last March 2, a former police officer identified as SPO1 Rey Manatad, who worked as an inspector and collector for a security agency, was killed by two unidentified assailants in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City.
In a separate incident, an auto mechanic was also shot dead during an alleged argument on Miñoza St., Tigba-o, Barangay Talamban last Friday morning.
The victim was identified as Arturo Torreon III, 40, who was killed by a gunman identified only by his alias Mokring.