Lanao Sur barangay chairman wounded in gun attack —police

Iligan City —Amid prevailing martial law in Mindanao, a barangay chairman of Lanao del Sur was wounded in a gun attack on Monday afternoon, a police report said Tuesday.

Police Station 5 chief Police Senior Inspector Ian Pasco identified the victim as Al-Shury Lucman Dipatuan, 35, of Barangay  Dipatuan of Bacolod-Kalawi town of Lanao del Sur.

An initial police investigation showed that the victim was driving a few meters away from a restaurant in the city's Barangay Pala-o at about 7:45 p.m. when a vehicle pulled shoulder to shoulder beside the driver's seat and opened fire at the victim. 

Dipatuan was wounded in the leg and stomach in the attack,  the police report said, adding that investigators recovered six empty shells of a cal-.45 handgun at the crime scene.

Vice Mayor of Bacolod-Kalawi Jaafar Dipatuan told GMA News Online in a phone interview on Tuesday that his son had just attended a program of the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative ( Lasureco) in Marawi City together with his three sisters  Djanisha Dipatuan Macassi Lang, Djarah  Dipatuan, and Jalilah Dipatuan Mamintal when they noticed four vehicles were tailing them.

Sensing danger, Vice Mayor Dipatuan said, the group decided to drop by a restaurant in the Pala-o commercial district.

But as they were about to pull away heading in the direction of Cagayan de Oro City, they were attacked. 

Barangay chairman Dipatuan was rushed to Sanitarium and was later transferred to undisclosed hospital in  Cagayan de Oro City.

Meanwhile, Lanao del Sur PNP Provincial director  Senior Superintendent John Guyguyon said Tuesday that they are still waiting for the Iligan City Police Office incident report.

For his part, Col Alex Aduca, commander of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion said he immediately alerted his troops after the incident, and said that based on their initial investigation, the attack might have been motivated by family feud or "rido." —LBG, GMA News