LAGANGILANG, Abra – Two people, including a candidate for municipal councilor and a punong barangay, were killed after a campaign rally turned into a boxing match and a shooting spree at barangay Nagtupacan, here, Monday night.
Police authorities identified the fatalities as Lou Salvador Claro, 57, a retired police official and the incumbent punong barangay of Nagtupacan, Lagangilang, Abra and Manzano Bersalona Agdalpen, a candidate for municipal councilor in the municipality.
Probers from the Lagangilang Municipal Police Station disclosed that Agdalpen, who is vying for a seat in the municipal council, was reportedly campaigning in the said barangay when he allegedly approached and without any reason punched a certain Romel Apolinar who was simply standing in the area where the former was campaigning.
Apolinar immediately ran away from the said area and approached Claro for assistance and the latter immediately proceeded to the place of incident to look into what happened.
Agdalpen allegedly punched the face of Apolinar and tuned his ire on the responding Claro where he reportedly pushed him, drew his pistol and repeatedly fired at the said punong barangay.
However, still unidentified gun-wielding individuals who witnessed the unfolding of the events in the area reportedly fired at Agdalpen until he was sprawled bloodied on the ground.
Claro was immediately rushed by concerned residents to the Seares Medical Center while Agdalpen was also brought to the Abra Provincial hospital for medical treatment of the injuries they sustained from the said shooting incidents in the municipality.
Ironically, the two victims were declared dead on arrival by attending physicians due to multiple gunshot wounds in the different parts of their bodies.
Investigators are now conducting an indepth investigation on the root cause of the shooting incident and the manhunt operation against the involved suspects in the bloody shooting incident that transpired during the ongoing campaign period. By Dexter A. See
