ILOILO – In what was believed to be a case of road rage, a jail officer was shot to death in Bangga Dama, Barangay Bolong Oeste, Santa Barbara, Iloilo yesterday morning.
Jail Senior Inspector Andrew Larupay, 51, of Barangay Caninguan, Lambunao, Iloilo, died of multiple gunshot wounds around 11:15 a.m.
The suspects were Philippine Army’s Private First Class Bjourn Kirby Esposo, 26, of Barangay Malitbog Ilaya, Bingawan, Iloilo; and Staff Sergeant Nilo Sorolla, 40, of Barangay Binangkilan, Santa Barbara; and Nilo Silao, 47, of Magsaysay Street, Calinog, Iloilo and a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
The jail officer and the soldiers – assigned in the 12th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Libot, Calinog, Iloilo – had a traffic altercation in the neighboring town Cabatuan, according to Police Major Raymund Celoso, chief of the Santa Barbara police station.
The suspects were onboard an Elf truck while the victim was in his white car. The men were all bound for Iloilo City.
Upon reaching Bolong Oeste, Larupay – assigned at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Region 6 – called out the soldiers to stop.
Wielding a gun, Larupay confronted the suspects, but was shot first. He was rushed to the nearby Western Visayas Sanitarium where he was declared him “dead on arrival.”
“Nakita ko nanaog ang duha (suspects) sa truck bitbit ang ila pusil tapos gin tiro nila (si Larupay),” said eyewitness Ileseo Alimbon, a traffic enforcer.
Prior to the shooting, Larupay hit the head of one of the suspects, Alimbon told Panay News.
After the shooting, Alimbon said, “dali-dali nga nalagyo ang mga suspects sang makita nga natumba ang victim.”
“Dugay-dugay, nakita ko nagbangon pa ang victim bisan dugoon bitbit ang iya short firearm kag naglakat pakadto sa truck. Dayun natumba na lang sia,” he added.
The suspects were detained in the Santa Barbara police station.
Esposo owned up the killing but insisted “it was for self-defense.”
However, Celoso said, the Santa Barbara police station would still file a criminal case against Sorolla and Silao.
Policemen of Santa Barbara recovered two spent bullets of a .9mm pistol and empty shells of a .45-caliber gun from the crime scene./PN
