POLICE Brigadier General Rolando Miranda, director of Police Regional Office-Western Visayas, has ordered the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) to conduct a thorough investigation on the killing of Police Staff Sergeant Joseph Nepomuceno Jr. in Bacolod City on Sunday, August 29.
Miranda said the investigators should exert all efforts to bring justice to the BCPO's fallen operative.
Nepomuceno, 37, a member of City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU), was shot to death by two unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants on Rosario Street in Barangay 15, Bacolod City.
Police Major Ramel Sarona, chief of Police Station 1, said Nepomuceno was driving his motorcycle when two unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants fired at him several times around 5:15 p.m.
Nepomuceno sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, but he did not survive.
Police recovered from the scene of the crime six empty shells of .45 caliber revolver.
Sarona said Nepomuceno was conducting an intelligence monitoring of the drug personalities in the area of Police Station 1 when two unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants tailed him and fired at him.
He said they are eyeing work-related as a possible motive in the killing victim and there is a big possibility that the persons behind it were involved in illegal drugs since Nepomuceno was an active operative of CDEU and they want to eliminate him.
"We are still conducting a thorough investigation to determine the persons involved in the killing of Nepomuceno," he added.
The investigators will also check the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera in the area to determine the identity of the suspects. They will also coordinate with the family of the victim to determine if he had received threats before he was gunned down.
The police are also asking the cooperation of the public to report to authorities any information to give justice to the killing of Nepomuceno.
Colonel Manuel Placido, director of BCPO, also said that BCPO is saddened by the loss of one of its dedicated personnel and a hardworking operative who has been instrumental in the arrest of several high-value individual (HIV) drug peddlers and prohibited drug users.
Meanwhile, the Philippine flag at the BCPO headquarters flies at half-mast following the death of Nepomuceno.