BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A deacon of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) was shot dead at Carmen Street in Brgy. San Pedro, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, on Sunday.
Negrense Paul Tejam, 40, was declared dead on arrival at the Binalbagan Infirmary after he was shot by a gunman on a motorcycle, investigations of the Binalbagan police showed.
Tejam was on his way to a church on board a motorcycle, with his niece riding in tandem with him, when a gunman on a Suzuki Rider motorbike overtook them and fired at him, with a .45 caliber pistol. He succumbed to gunshot wounds in the left shoulder, left side of his neck, and jaw.
His niece was not hit, the police added.
Recovered at the crime scene were two fired cartridges and a slug of a .45 caliber pistol. The motive for the shooting is still being established by the Binalbagan police.
The killing of Tejam came a day after motorcycle-riding suspects also shot and killed Vicente Gayongala, who was reported by the police to be a drug suspect, in Brgy. 1 poblacion, Himamaylan, a neighboring city of Binalbagan.
The gunman, who was also armed with a .45 caliber pistol, spared the sister and niece of the victim, who were not hurt during the shooting incident.
Also recovered at the crime scene were three deformed fired cartridges of a .45 caliber pistol.
ORIENTAL KILLING
In Negros Oriental, a former member of the Civilian Armed Auxiliary (CAA) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was shot dead in Guihulngan City by four unidentified suspects for a still unknown reason on Sunday.
A report from the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office yesterday identified the victim as Lander Sta. Ana Garde, 45, of Sitio Tuko, Barangay Trinidad in Guihulngan.
Garde was shot at around 2 p.m. Sunday while walking toward his neighbor’s house.
The suspects, wearing dark clothes and a cap, shot the victim several times, hitting him on the different parts of the body, before fleeing toward the mountainous area.
The victim was rushed to the Guihulngan City District Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Police investigators recovered 14 fired cartridges of a .45-caliber pistol and a fired cartridge of a 9mm caliber handgun.*with report from PNA
