A mayor of a town in Misamis Occidental was gunned down in an ambush in Cebu City on Friday, a day after he was arrested for allegedly mauling a massage therapist who supposedly disrespected him.
David Navarro, mayor of Clarin, a town about 17 kilometers north of Ozamiz City, was killed while he was being transported in a police vehicle to the City Prosecutor’s Office, Police Regional Office 7 spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Aurora Rayos confirmed.
A report on radio dzBB said Navarro was shot several times by at least four suspects armed with high-powered firearms on board a white van while he was still inside the police car.
Navarro was wearing a bulletproof vest and was with two police escorts, and was shot in the head at close range, witnesses said.
Major Eduardo Sanchez, chief of the Abellana Police Station, said they did not notice the white van approaching and were taken by surprise by the ambush.
The ambush happened along M. Velez Street in Barangay Guadalupe at 2:10 p.m., police said. The suspects immediately escaped.
Four civilians and one policeman were also wounded in the ambush, said Police Major Edgar Sanchez, chief of the police station where the mayor was detained.
Navarro was arrested Thursday night for allegedly punching a male massage therapist, after allegedly asking a female therapist at the same spa in Cebu City to perform lewd acts.
Sanchez said they were preparing to file complaints of physical injury, acts of lasciviousness, and usurpation of authority against Navarro. Police investigation was still ongoing as of press time.