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Bacolod anti-drug cop gunned down

By Nanette Guadalquiver

August 30, 2021, 1:53 pm

<p><strong>CRIME SCENE.</strong> The motorcycle of slain anti-drug cop, Staff Sgt. Joseph Nepomuceno, lies on its side on Rosario Street, Bacolod City on Sunday (Aug. 29, 2021). Nepomuceno, 37, was gunned down by a still unidentified assailant who was also on a motorcycle.<em> (Photo courtesy of BCPO Station 1)</em></p>

CRIME SCENE. The motorcycle of slain anti-drug cop, Staff Sgt. Joseph Nepomuceno, lies on its side on Rosario Street, Bacolod City on Sunday (Aug. 29, 2021). Nepomuceno, 37, was gunned down by a still unidentified assailant who was also on a motorcycle. (Photo courtesy of BCPO Station 1)

BACOLOD CITY – An anti-drug operative of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding assailant along Rosario Street here on Sunday afternoon.

A report of Police Station 1 identified the victim as Staff Sgt. Joseph Nepomuceno, 37, a member of the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU).

Nepomuceno was also on a motorcycle traveling in Barangay 15 when he was shot.

He sustained four gunshot wounds from a caliber .45 pistol and was declared dead at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

Col. Manuel Placido, BCPO director, said investigators are already tracking the gunman and motorcycle driver.

“The BCPO is saddened by the loss of one of its dedicated personnel and hardworking operatives, who has been instrumental in the arrest of several high-value individuals, drug peddlers and prohibited drug users. The men and women of the BCPO condole with the family of Staff Sgt. Nepomuceno,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Maj. Ramel Sarona, chief of Police Station 1, said in a radio interview on Monday that they are focusing on work-related angle, considering that the fallen policeman was directly involved in the campaign against illegal drugs.

“We are looking at this as drug-related. There is a big possibility that he was killed because of his work as member of the CDEU and those arrested in their illegal drug operations could be involved,” he said.

They are also determining where Nepomuceno was going and who he was set to meet while investigators are looking into closed-circuit television cameras around the crime scene.

“We continue to look for witnesses. We appeal to those who witnessed the incident to get in touch with Police Station 1 to help the family of Staff Sgt. Nepomuceno attain justice for his death,” Sarona said. (PNA)

 

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