Cop killed, detainee hurt in ambush by NPA in Samar

A policeman was killed and the detainee he was escorting was injured in an ambush by New People’s Army members in Marabut, Samar, police confirmed Friday.

Cpl. Laurence Yrl Hembra succumbed to a bullet wound while detainee Nestor Lumagbas Jr. suffered injuries, according to a report from the Marabut Police.

Two other members of the local police, identified as Cpl. Jerome Distrajo and Pat. Joseph Ricky Gacgacao, were unharmed, the report said.

The incident occurred 12:56 p.m. Thursday, while Lumagbas and the policemen were traveling along the road of Brgy. Logero aboard a patrol car driven by Gacgacao.

Hembra and his fellow lawmen were then bringing Lumagbas back to their station, after escorting him to a hearing of his rape case at the court in Basey.

Rebels opened fire on the vehicle and hit Hembra, who was then sitting beside the driver, the report said.

“I strongly condemn this ambush incident which is clearly an attack from the communist terrorist group or the NPA,” Lt. Fernando Calabria, Marabut police chief, said in a statement.

Calabria extended sympathies to Hembra’s family and assured that police will pursue justice for the slain lawman.