Riding-in-tandem gunmen kill 2 students in MSU campus

Riding-in tandem gunmen shot and killed two students inside the Mindanao State University (MSU) campus in Marawi City on Tuesday night, September 14.

Police identified the victims as physical education student Hamza Rauf, and civil engineering student Zinal Omar, both third year college students.

Marawi police chief Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Madiwo said the two gunmen, who rode a motorcycle without a license plate, attacked the victims at around 6 pm in the commercial center in the MSU campus.

“We have two suspects. We now have information on the suspects, and we are conducting hot pursuit operations right now,” Madiwo said.

Investigators found four empty shells from a .40 caliber pistol in the crime scene.

Lanao del Sur police director Colonel Christopher Panapan ordered checkpoints set up in strategic areas to prevent the suspects from escaping.

MSU student leader Abdul Rafie Ramos Masbud, president of the MSU-College of Education Student Council, asked the MSU administration to ensure student safety inside the campus following the incident.

“We, students of Mindanao State University-Main Campus, are still traumatized,” Masbud said, adding that it was not the first time for such an incident to happen inside the MSU campus.

In 2013, a balut vendor was shot dead inside the campus. In 2012, alleged members of a crime syndicate ambushed soldiers patrolling the vicinity of the MSU campus in Marawi, killing three soldiers troops and wounding 10 others.

Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. also condemned the MSU campus killings.

“We demand justice for the two MSU students who were mercilessly shot and killed inside the campus yesterday. This is a brutal act, which the City Police of Marawi needs to investigate, for the culprits to be rightfully punished. Our sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims, Omar M. Zinal and Rauf Hamza,” Adiong said.

MSU student publication The Mindanao Varsitarian condemned the killings and demanded justice for the victims.

 “As a student-friendly institution, the Mindanao State University should uphold utmost peace and security among its students and staff. Such cases not only stain the good image of the university, but also result to fear among students and hinder them from continuing their usual lives within the campus vicinity,” it said.

The publication added: “We demand strengthened, consistent, and working security mechanisms in the campus. We do not want to witness another killing of an MSUan.” – Rappler.com