TWO men were gunned down while sleeping inside a deserted building at Westbound Market and Terminal Complex in Barangay Bulua, Cagayan de Oro.

Residents and workers at the 24-hour bus terminal station heard three gunfire coming from the nearby Monte Carlo Arcade building around 1 a.m., said Senior Police Officer 1 Fernando Datahan of Bulua Police Station.

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No one reported the gun blasts to the police until a passerby who spotted the two dead bodies at around 4 a.m. alerted the authorities, Datahan said.

The victims sustained gunshot wounds on their heads and in different parts of their body, probers said. One of them bore a tattoo that is common among the notorious Batang Mindanao (BM) 29 gang.

No empty shell was recovered from the crime scene.

"That building has been deserted for a time and no one cared when they heard the shots. The people near the area thought it was just someone firing his gun on the air,” Datahan told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in the dialect.

Initial police investigation showed that both victims were asleep when the perpetrators arrived and shot them before they could manage to escape.

“Some witnesses said they saw two motorcycles with two passengers each leaving the area after the gunfire,” the policeman said.

When the victims’ bodies were brought to a nearby funeral parlor hours after, the motorcycle-riding men even took a glimpse of the dead, Datahan said, citing witnesses.

Police had yet to identify the victims as of this posting, adding they may not be residents of the city.

Probers could not immediately say whether the killings are perpetrated by vigilantes, who are believed to be responsible for the deaths of several BM 29 member and individuals with records of drug cases this year.

Datahan also pointed out that the purported vigilantes usually use high-caliber firearms like .45; the weapons used on the two victims were either caliber .22 or .38 revolver—judging from the initial inspection on the dead bodies. Autopsies had yet to be released as of press time.

Police are still investigating three vigilante-style killings in the past two months.

Israel Lacre, alias "Boy Negro," and a certain Opaw were gunned down late last May. Both had criminal records in different police stations in the city.

On Father’s Day, June 21, 48-year-old Victor Felicilda was killed by three masked men at the usually crowded gate of Villa Ernesto Phase II Subdivision in Barangay Gusa.

Barangay officials said he was on a watch list for drug suspects. His family denied his involvement in illegal drugs. (ALR)

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on July 4, 2009.