Police corporal shot dead in Zamboanga del Sur

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur – A police officer was gunned down by still unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants in Barangay Tikwas in Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur Wednesday afternoon. Lt. Phillip Basaya Jr., chief of the Dumalinao Municipal Police Station, identified the victim as Police Corporal Armaejo Unab Jornadal, 36, a resident of Barangay Kalubi, San Miguel town. The victim was a member of the 2nd Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Mobile Force Company. Basaya reported that responding officers found Jornadal sprawled along the road, drenched in blood. Dr. Jovanie Vista, a physician at the Margosatubig Regional Hospital, who happened to be passing by, examined the victim and declared him dead at 5:16 p.m., Basaya said. Initial investigation revealed that Jornadal was riding his motorcycle from this city toward his residence when the two suspects aboard a black Honda XRM 125 tailed him. Upon reaching Purok Lapu-lapu, the suspects overtook him. The back-rider fired multiple shots, hitting the victim in different parts of his body. Basaya said the gunman alighted, seized the victim’s sling bag and then fled toward Guipos town with the motorcycle driver. Investigators checked on the victim’s motorcycle compartment, which yielded an Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loans Association, Inc. (AFPSLAI) loan receipt dated July 1, bearing the victim’s name, indicating he had just processed a cash loan before the attack. His government-issued firearm was missing and believed taken by the suspects. Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered four fired cartridges of a suspected 9mm pistol. Investigators are backtracking CCTV footage along the suspects’ escape route. Members of the 2nd Police Mobile Force Company and the Dumalinao police launched a hot pursuit operation against the suspects.