Cop wounded, gunman slain in Sultan Kudarat highway shootout
ISULAN, SULTAN KUDARAT – A police officer was wounded while an unidentified gunman was killed on Saturday as municipal police and highway patrol group personnel were preparing to put up checkpoints for the simultaneous implementation of election gun ban set to start on Sunday.
Police Lt. Col. Julius Malcontento, Isulan municipal police station chief, said Police Senior Master Sergeant (PSMS) Jonathan Wagia, a member of the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Highway Patrol Unit (PHPU), was injured when attacked by still unidentified gunman as he was escorting an impounded a white Suzuki minivan that had no license plate as it was traveling along the highway between Isulan and Esperanza towns at 11:20 p.m. on Saturday.
Malcontento said that Wagia, who was currently being treated in a local hospital, was with a team of personnel from his unit and the Sultan Kudarat municipal police station setting up the checkpoint when they noticed the van without any license plate.
When checked, the van’s driver could not produce the needed documents, prompting police personnel to impound the vehicle. Wagia boarded the van on its way to the police headquarters for impounding.
But at 11:30 p.m., as the van headed towards the PHPU headquarters in Tacurong City, two men on a motorbike overtook the minivan at Barangay Impao, Isulan town and fired at Wagia seated at the back portion of the van.
Although injured in different parts of his body, Wagia managed to return fire, killing one of the two suspects, Malcontento said.
The van driver and the other suspect fled while the Isulan municipal police and PHPU personnel responded to Wagia’s call for help and rushed him to the provincial hospital in Isulan.
Malcontento said police have recovered vital evidence inside the van and were now pursuing the suspects.
