A local basketball player was shot dead by a still unknown gunman at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hibbard Avenue in Dumaguete City.

Police identified the fatality as Junrey Viliran, 32, single, of Hibbard Avenue in Barangay Piapi, Dumaguete, who played for the Piapi basketball team. He sustained four gunshot wounds and died on the spot.

Initial investigations show that Viliran was on his motorcycle on the way home from a basketball tournament in Poblacion, Valencia, about nine kilometers from Dumaguete. The suspect tailing the victim was on board a blue Honda Wave motorcycle, the police said.

When Viliran parked his motorcycle at Hibbard Avenue, the suspect called him by his alias “Jun”, and when the victim approached, he was shot with a .45 caliber pistol, the police added.

Dumaguete City police chief, Supt. James Goforth, said what puzzles the police is the manner in which the victim was killed, and the recovery of seven empty shells for a .45 caliber pistoland nine deformed slugs, and fragments.

Two other angles are being looked into but Goforth refused to disclose them

A certain “Patrick” who was in front of an internet café at the opposite shoulder of the road reportedly witnessed the crime, but had no eye contact with the gunman. He brought Viliran to the Silliman University Medical Center Foundation but he was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians.

Goforth said the victim’s brother, Joven, said that in past days, they had noticed a man, also with a blue Honda Wave motorcycle, in their vicinity.*JG

back to top