MALOLOS CITY—A 63-year-old judge of the Regional Trial Court of Bulacan based in this capital city was shot dead at about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon along McArthur Highway in Barangay Tikay.
The victim was identified as Wilfredo T. Nieves, presiding judge of Bulacan RTC-Branch 84, a special court handling heinous crimes and drug-related cases. Nieves was alone driving at the time of the ambush.
Police probers who arrived at the crime scene minutes after the ambush gathered that at least two armed suspects, on board separate motorcycles, alighted just as the Fortuner-SUV with plate 16-C-84 (UOC-273) stopped at the red-light at the junction of Barangay Tikay, a kilometer away from the Tabang entry plaza of the North Luzon Expressway.
The suspects, believed to be hired assassins, shot Nieves at close range from both sides of the car. The car sustained three bullets holes from the passenger side and another three from the back window. Five bullet holes penetrated the window glass of the driver’s side. Judge Nieves left his office past 4 p.m. and was on his way home in Quezon City via NLex.
Court sources said Nieves had been receiving death threats after he convicted a member of the Dominguez brothers group sometine last year.
The Bulacan RTC has 27 salas composed of family courts, drugs courts and heinous crime courts.
