BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A day after Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez was sworn into office, another resident here was gunned down.
On Saturday night, Geory Adeva of Purok Tumpok, Barangay Handumanan was shot multiple times on 18 Street, Barangay 5. He died instantly.
The gunman, who was driving a motorcycle, left quickly after the shooting, witnesses told Police Station 2.
Adeva himself was driving a motorcycle, said Police Captain Paul Vincent Pendon, Police Station 2 commander.
Suddenly, according to witnesses, the unidentified gunman shouted at Adeva, “Naling-an na ko sa imo, tapuson ta na ni.” Then he shot the victim.
Police Station 2 probers have started reviewing security cameras of various establishments in the hope of identifying the gunman and determining if the former had been tailing Adeva.
A day before the shooting, during his inauguration address, Mayor Benitez ordered the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director, Police Colonel Thomas Martir, to curb crimes in the city and solve recent shooting cases.
Martir was appointed the BCPO chief during the administration of Benitez’s predecessor, former mayor Evelio Leonardia.
The city is being “terrorized” by a wave of unsolved murders for far too long, Benitez lamented.
He vowed to strengthen the BCPO to ensure Bacolod’s peace and security.
BCPO will be allotted a bigger budget, said Benitez, but he also expects better performance from the city police.
Martir assured Benitez that the BCPO will strengthen its anti-crime campaign such as by adding additional police patrols and surveillance particularly in identified crime hotspots./PN
