By CESAR JOLITO III

A 58-year-old contractor was injured after he was shot by an unidentified assailant along the national highway at Barangay San Francisco in Negros Oriental’s Santa Catalina town early yesterday morning.

Police identified the victim as Engineer Angelito Uy Mendoza, a resident of Barangay Manalongon in the town.

Mendoza was driving his motorcycle when he was ambushed in Sitio Omanod around 7:40 a.m., an initial police report showed.

He had earlier been seen having coffee with a companion in Barangay Manalongon around 6:00 a.m.

The contractor later proceeded to Sitio Omanod to check on his quarry site.

Upon reaching the area, an unidentified suspect riding a black motorcycle shot him three times in the back with a caliber .45 pistol, causing him to crash and slide across the road.

The victim was immediately rushed to hospital in Bayawan City and is now in a stable condition.

Police recovered one fired cartridge case of a caliber .45 at the crime scene.

Authorities said the motive behind the shooting remains under investigation.

They are eyeing a land dispute involving the victim’s quarry site as a possible motive.

Law enforcers have launched Oplan Tambayayong in pursuit of the suspect, who fled in the northern direction after the attack./CJ, WDJ