GenSan intel cop killed, 3 kids hurt in gun attack

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A police intelligence officer was killed while his three children were wounded in an attack by motorcycle-riding gunmen in a village here Friday evening.

Col. Aden Lagradante, city police director, identified the slain police officer as MSgt. Emmanuel Coronado, the intelligence chief of Police Station 4 in Barangay San Isidro.

Lagradante said Coronado and his children were aboard their gray Honda sedan and on their way to a store at past 9 p.m. when they were waylaid by two unidentified men at a portion of Yumang Street in the same village.

He said the gunmen were aboard a black Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle and immediately fled from the crime scene to an unknown direction.

Coronado succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead in a nearby hospital.

His three children identified as Hannah Shane (13), Jorosh Manuel (15), and Joshen Manuel (8) sustained minor gunshot wounds and were already out of danger as of noon Saturday.

Lagradante said he has

already ordered investigators to dig deeper to find the motive behind the killing, which was believed to be related to Coronado’s work as a police intelligence officer.

“That’s (work-related) one of the angles that we are pursuing. (But) we’re looking at all possible motives,” he told reporters.

Coronado led several major operations in the Barangay San Isidro area in the past weeks that led to the arrest and neutralization of top criminals, among them a notorious pusher and robbery gang leader.

“We strongly condemn this attack. Rest assured that we will do everything to bring justice to (MSgt. Coronado) and his family,” he said.

The city police office in Camp Fermin Lira placed the Philippine flag at halfmast on Saturday morning to mourn Coronado’s killing.