BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III / GILBERT P. BAYORAN
P/Staff Sgt. Joseph Nepumoceno, who was shot dead along Rosario Street in Brgy. 38, Bacolod City Sunday afternoon, had been instrumental in the arrest of several drug users and high-value targets in the campaign against illegal drugs, P/Col. Manuel Placido, Bacolod City Police Office director, said yesterday.
Placido said the death of Nepumoceno is a great loss to the BCPO Drug Enforcement Unit.
Station 1 policemen are still facing a blank wall on the identity of the riding-in-tandem gunmen, who tailed and shot Nepumoceno, 37, of Brgy. 14, Bacolod, at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday. The suspects were wearing helmets during the incident, the police said.
Station 1 commander, P/Major Ramel Sarona, said they are determining if the shooting was job-related, although they are also entertaining other angles.
Sarona said that according to his colleagues and live-in partner, the victim did not receive any threat. He said they will check Nepumoceno’s cellular phone, that is in their custody, for possible leads.
He said they were able to secure a copy of the closed-circuit television camera footage near the crime scene, but the video is not clear.
P/Brigadier Gen. Rolando Miranda, director of the Police Regional Office 6, ordered the BCPO to solve the case immediately, adding that investigators and intelligence operatives should join forces in conducting follow-up investigations.
Nepumoceno was on his scooter when riding-in-tandem suspects shot him, using what is believed to be a .45 caliber pistol, and hit his chin, neck, back, and chest. He died while being treated at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.
The flags at the police stations and the BCPO headquarters will be flown at half-mast starting today.
PROBATIONER SHOT DEAD
Meanwhile, a probationer, identified as Marvin Diancin, was also shot dead at Crossing Antipolo Lubi, in Brgy. Talaban, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, Sunday.
Diancin, a supplier of bamboo products and a resident of Purok Casoy, Brgy. Mambagaton, Himamaylan City, was declared dead on arrival at the Valeriano Gatuslao District Hospital, the police said.
Recovered at the crime scene were 10 fired cartridges and two fired bullets of a .45 caliber pistol.
P/Lt. Col. Romeo Vargas, Himamaylan City police chief, said Diancin was selling bamboo products to the unidentified persons, who shot him.
Initial investigation showed that Diancin was a drug personality in Kabankalan City and was on probation for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Vargas said they are looking into the possibility that Diancin’s killing may have been related to illegal drugs or business.*
