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Judge shot in Negros Oriental; 2 suspects held


A judge was shot Wednesday night by an unidentified assailant in Negros Oritental province allegedly due to a recent decision he issued, police said Thursday. In his report, Senior Superintendent Mariano Natu-el Jr, chief of the Region 7 Police Operations and Plans Division, identified the victim as Judge Orlando Velasco of the Bayawan City Regional Trial Court . Natu-el said Velasco has just arrived at his residence in Villareal village in Bayawan City when he was shot several times by a lone gunman about 7:40 p.m., hitting him in the lower part of his body. The suspect immediately escaped aboard a motorcycle driven by another man, and headed toward an unknown direction. Velasco was promptly taken by responding policemen to the Silliman University Medical Center in nearby Dumaguete City for medical treatment. Follow up operations conducted by the Bayawan City Policce resulted later to the apprehension of two possible suspects and the recovery of an abandoned motorcycle in the adjacent town of Sta. Catalina, said Natu-el. He said the two men will be subjected to paraffin test at the police crime laboratory in Dumaguete City to ascertain if they opened fire. Natu-el said elements of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police were deployed in the hospital to provide security to Velasco. "Elements of the Bayawan City Police believed that possible motive of the incident might be vengeance as the victim has just recently (issued a conviction ruling) for a drug pushing (case, and the suspects) were meted with life sentence," Natu-el said. Natu-el said police already coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation in Dumaguete City "for an activation of a joint task force to handle and conduct a thorough investigation of the incident." - GMANews.TV

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