Man shot by ‘riding-in-tandem’

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Police are still probing the motive behind the shooting that wounded a man at Purok Sto. Rosario, Barangay Bata here on Tuesday.

The victim was identified as Joemar Lumawag, 56, of the said village.

Captain Armilyn Vargas, head of Police Station 3, said Lumawag was sitting in front of his store along with his neighbor and a minor when two unidentified men on a motorcycle arrived and allegedly shot him.

Vargas said the gunman reportedly failed on the first shot, prompting the victim to run, but the suspect shot him again, hitting his left arm.

His neighbor and the minor were unharmed.

Police recovered from the scene a caliber .45 ammunition shell.

Lumawag was taken to a private hospital here and underwent surgery yesterday, he is now stable, according to Vargas.

Based on their investigation, Vargas said that Lumawag was jailed for a drug offense in 1999.

Despite this, Vargas said they could not yet establish the motive, adding that they are still coordinating with other police stations to check more on his background.

“Wala man daw siya kaaway or kontra,” the station commander said.

Vargas said they have no lead yet on the identity of the perpetrators, whose faces were covered, but they have already requested a copy of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of a nearby establishment.