MANILA – A man, suspected to be a “hired gun,” accidentally shot himself and bled to death after he shot and killed an “asset” or informant of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila, police reported.
Police said the NBI asset, identified as Diosdado Soriano, a vendor, was shot by the suspect shortly after midnight Sunday in Binondo district, more popularly known as “Manila’s Chinatown.”
Initial investigation showed that Soriano sitting on a chair looking after his wares near the Police Assistance Center in Binondo when the suspect approached him and shot him once in the head, killing him on the spot.
Witnesses told investigators that after the shooting, the suspect fled to a motorcycle parked nearby and manned by a cohort.
However, witnesses added that as the pair fled, a gunshot rang out and the suspect who killed Soriano fell off the motorcycle. He was bleeding from a bullet wound in the thigh.
Without stopping, witnesses said the driver did not stop and instead just drove away. They said they brought the wounded suspect, who remained unidentified, to the nearest hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians due to loss of blood.
Police theorized that the gun accidentally went off after the suspect tucked it into the waistband of his pants.
One of the witnesses later identified the suspect as the man who had shot Soriano. But the caliber .45 pistol he used was not found in his possession.
However, police said they recovered two magazines loaded with caliber .45 pistol bullets from a bag carried by the suspect.
Police said they have yet to establish the motive for the slaying of Soriano. But they believe it had something to do with Soriano’s work as an informant of the NBI, the law enforcement agency of the Department of Justice.
One possible angle, police said, was that Soriano relayed information to the NBI which led to the discovery of an illegal drug laboratory used in the manufacture of shabu in Chinatown.
Recently, agents of the NBI and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) conducted several raids that resulted in the seizure of shabu, described as “ice” or “poor man’s cocaine,” manufactured in “kitchen-size’” illegal laboratories in several condominium units.
The raids also resulted in the arrest of several Chinese nationals suspected to be members of international drug syndicates operating in the Philippines.
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