3 men shoot off-duty cop
Gunshots rang out before Minglanilla cockfight
PO3 Omar Parages, 32, told his wife he was going to meet someone about a business proposal; he brought their seven-year-old son with him; witnesses said that 3 men shot him in Sitio Lower Linao, Barangay Lipata, Minglanilla, the same town where Parages was assigned
AN OFF-DUTY policeman assigned in Minglanilla was shot and killed by three unidentified men in the same town yesterday afternoon. PO3 Omar Parages, who worked with the Police-Community Relations desk of the Minglanilla Police Station, died after being shot once in his head by three men in Sitio Lower Linao, Barangay Lipata.
The three men remained unidentified as of press time.
Parages, 32, a resident of Barangay Poblacion Ward 2 in Minglanilla, was with his seven-yearold son when he went to the area at 1:30 p.m.
Witnesses said that right before the attack, Parages left his son on his motorcycle before proceeding to meet with a certain Lucio, who lives in the area.
They heard three gunshots after a few minutes, then people began running away. Residents saw Parages lying on the ground, with blood all over him.
Parages reportedly lost his bag that contained P1,500 cash, his identification cards and documents, and his personal .45 pistol.
When they arrived, the police immediately took the officer’s son, for his protection.
Some residents who saw the incident said that just before Parages was shot, he was watching a small cockfight in the area.
But Senior Insp. Richard Gadingan, Minglanilla police chief, denied that the officer was involved in a cockfight just before he was shot.
While Parages was not a field operative, Gadingan didn’t rule out the possibility that the shooting was job-related.
Parages, who had been working in Minglanilla for almost a year, after being reassigned from Dumanjug, was described by colleagues as a quiet person.
Gadingan said that Parages, whom he assigned to handle the station’s administrative work, was also hardworking.
“Dili gyud na siya moreklamo kon imong suguon (He never complained when he was asked to do something),” Gadingan said.
Parages handled different jobs, which included serving as the station’s administrative officer and as head of the Police-Community Relations desk.
He also handled the station’s firearms registration.
Parages’s wife, Arlene, asked the police to arrest those behind her husband’s murder swiftly.
Before he left home, he reportedly told his wife that he was going out to meet with a friend to discuss a business proposal.
Arlene added that her husband had never mentioned if he had any enemies on the job.