SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/13 March) — A police officer who is involved in the campaign against illegal drugs became the latest target of motorcycle-riding gunmen in the city.
A police report identified the victim as Police Officer 2 Genuel Agbayani, of Payawan 1, Barangay Luna this city.
Quoting eyewitnesses, the report said Agbayani was about to board his motorcycle on Saturday evening in front of a gas station in Km 2, Barangay Luna when the attack occurred.
The victim was hit in his upper abdomen and left thigh but managed to run.
People nearby rushed rushed him to a nearby hospital. Several of his colleagues showed up there.
Agbayani is an intelligence officer who figured in several raids against drug suspects.
Police investigators linked the shooting to his involvement in these raids.
Agbayani told MindaNews that he could not identify the assailants who fled toward the downtown area firing seven shots with .45 caliber pistols.
“I cannot identify them because they partly concealed their faces,” he said on Saturday evening.
He was armed with a .45 pistol but failed to retaliate saying he was caught by surprise.
Agbayani was the fourth victim of attacks by motorcycle-riding gunmen last week.
Last Thursday evening gunmen shot dead two persons and wounded another one in separate incidents in the city. (Roel N. Catoto/MindaNews)