ILOILO City – A suspected member of the Prevendido drug group was killed in an alleged shootout with police officers during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Dulonan, Arevalo district.
The 26-year-old Bernardo Chavez died of two gunshot wounds on the chest and three on the back of his body.
Chavez – resident of Barangay Cuartero, Jaro district – fought back and endangered the lives of law enforces, Lieutenant Colonel Jersey Besas of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit said.
According to Besas, when Chavez realized that he was dealing with police officers, he allegedly shot at them. Besas said this prompted them to shoot back. Chavez was rushed to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district but was “declared dead on arrival.”
Prior to the shootout, the suspect – who was a drug surrenderer and an alleged down line of Richard Prevendido – was nabbed around 6:40 p.m. after he sold a suspected shabu to an undercover cop P8,000.
“He (Chavez) was put under surveillance for more than a month. He stopped after Prevendido’s death. We tried to transact him since last week, but we were able to materialize the transaction on Friday,” said Besas.
Recovered from the crime scene were an empty shell of a .9mm-caliber pistol, an empty shell of a .45-caliber gun, three sachets of suspected shabu, a cellular phone and a lighter.
The suspect was reportedly renting a house in Barangay Dulonan on Oct. 5 this year and he used a name of Bernard Villaluna to hide his identity./PN
