Village chief shot dead in Ilocos Norte

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — A village chief in Marcos town in Ilocos Norte province was shot and killed on Friday while on her way home, police said in a report Saturday, Dec. 2.

Helen Abrigado, the re-elected chief of Ferdinand village, was killed by two unidentified suspects riding-in-tandem on a motorcycle while she was aboard a Mitsubishi L300 FB truck owned by her village and driven by councilor Carlo Bagaoisan, the police report said.

In an initial investigation, Abrigado’s vehicle was traversing Barangay Tabucbuc in Marcos when she was attacked at 9:50 p.m. Abrigado was on a convoy with barangay health workers and other village officials during the incident after they reportedly attended the Christmas season kick-off in their town at the municipal hall on Friday night.

Abrigado officially assumed her duties as village chief on Friday after she won the Oct. 30 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

The suspects followed Abrigado and Bagaoisan’s vehicle then overtook them and fired at least four times at the passenger side where the victim was seated, according to investigators.

Abrigado suffered multiple gunshots on the right portion of her body. She was taken to a nearby hospital but died on the way.

There were other people sitting at the back portion of the multi-cab where Abrigado was boarded but they were not hurt.

Abrigado’s driver, Bagaoisan, was also unhurt, the police said.

The police said they had launched a hot pursuit operation to capture the suspects.

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