SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/05 Oct) — A former city councilor was gunned down on Saturday afternoon while a cockfight was going on in a cockpit here, police said.
Constante “Tante” M. Elumba, 58, former chair of Barangay Togbongon and Councilor from 2007 to 2010 when he was President of the Association of Barangay Councils, was walking inside the Pyramid Cockpit Arena when shot at around 3 p.
m. by a lone assailant.
A bullet hit the back of his head while two more hit the left side of his body.
He was rushed to the Surigao Medical Center but expired hours later at the Intensive Care Unit.
Six empty cartridges from a .45 caliber gun were found at the crime scene.
Witnesses told police that the suspect, clad in blue and white stripe polo shirt, about 5’4” in height, of medium build and estimated to be in his early 30s, casually walked out of the arena and drove his no-plate red Honda XRM motorcycle.
Senior Police Officer 1 Jay A. Tandayag, said they are still tracking down the suspect’s location. He said they will also look at the footage of the arena’s CCTV.
Floro Cortes, Elumba’s friend, told MindaNews he and Elumba were walking, his right arm on Elumba’s right shoulder “when I heard deafening sound of a series of gunshots just a few inches behind us.”
He said he noticed Elumba slowly dropped on his knees and later dropped to the ground, face down.
Antonio Nohara, one of hundreds inside the cockpit told MindaNews the crowd ducked when they heard gunshots. (Roel N. Catoto / MindaNews)
