The Negros Oriental Provincial Police office on Monday bared that a gun-for-hire could possibly be behind the recent shooting of a lawyer here and a “drug surrenderee” in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental.
Col. Julian Entoma, Negros Oriental provincial police director, said empty shells from a .45-caliber handgun recovered by the police from both crime scenes showed a match.
“We’re looking strongly at the possibility of a hired killer here based on the results of the ballistics tests even though both cases could not be possibly linked because of different motives behind the shootings,” he said in the Cebuano dialect.
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On Jan. 3, lawyer Ray Moncada was shot by two riding-in-tandem suspects at his house around 8:45 a.m. when he went to the gate to check on who was ringing the doorbell.
The 74-year-old lawyer sustained gunshot wounds, and is now recovering at a local hospital.
Entoma said the motive for the shooting was believed closely-linked to his profession.
Earlier, a “drug surrenderee” undergoing the Community-Based Treatment & Rehabilitation Program was also shot around 6:25 p.m. last Dec. 29 in Sitio Dumandan, barangay Mayabon, Zamboanguita town.
The victim, identified as Noel Flores Irlanda, 49, married, and a construction electrical maintenance worker residing at the said sitio, was shot by riding-in-tandem suspects who followed him while driving his motorcycle.
He died from multiple gunshot wounds. The police are still determining the motive behind his death.
Meanwhile, Entoma said three other shooting incidents that transpired in Negros Oriental last week are still under investigation. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
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