Odicta family lawyer shot dead in Roxas City

A lawyer for the Odicta family was shot dead Friday while eating in an eatery in Roxas City, Capiz, with his family, according to GMA News' stringer Christopher Yu, citing local authorities.

Lawyer Edel Julio Romero was having lunch with his wife and kid at Culasi Port when men on board a gray SUV stopped and shot him in the head.

The family was supposed to go to Manila on board a roll-on, roll-off (RORO) vessel.

Witnesses said Romero was wearing a bulletproof vest but he took it off moments before he was shot. At that time, he just came from a hearing of a client facing a drug-related case.

Romero was considered a "high value target" of the Molo Police in Iloilo.

The Odicta family has been linked to illegal drug activities. In August 2016, Melvin Odicta and his wife Meriam were shot dead a few meters away from the Caticlan Jetty Port after they disembarked from a RORO vessel.

The killings happened days after the couple surrendered to then-Interior and Local Government Secretary Mike Sueno due to death threats they were receiving.

The couple were being linked to Dragon, a drug lord in Iloilo. Melvin Odicta, however, denied that he is a drug lord, claiming that their money came from legitimate businesses. —KBK, GMA News