7 cops held in Albuera mayoral candidate shooting

Seven active police officers are now in custody as persons of interest in the shooting of Albuera, Leyte mayoral candidate Kerwin Espinosa and a vice mayoralty candidate on Thursday evening.

Espinosa sustained a chest wound when an unidentified man shot him from behind while he was at a campaign event in Barangay Tinag-an, Albuera town; two other individuals were also hit but the nature of their injuries is not specified.

The suspects, including two officers and five non-commissioned officers from the Ormoc Police Station, were apprehended during a hot pursuit operation near a compound where the suspected getaway vehicle was located.

A sport utility vehicle (SUV) with a tarpaulin supporting Espinosa's mayoralty bid was found at the compound and is now undergoing ballistics examination; police are investigating whether a sniper may have been responsible for the shooting.

Espinosa, who admitted in 2016 to being involved in illegal drug trade but later denied any implication of being a drug lord without evidence, is still facing charges for money laundering and illegal possession of firearms and dangerous drugs.

The Baybay, Leyte court dismissed a drug case against Espinosa in June 2024 while his father, the late Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., was accused by former president Rodrigo Duterte of being a 'narco-politician' and killed inside his cell at the Baybay City Provincial Jail in 2016.

Espinosa has been discharged from the hospital on Friday.