UPDATED: Pasay councilor shot at Las Piñas mall; pronounced dead in hospital

(Eagle News) — A Pasay City councilor was killed after he was shot right outside the doors of a mall in Las Pinas City on a busy Saturday night.

Supt. Marion Balonglong said in a radio interview that Pasay City Councilor Borbie Rivera was attacked near one of the exits leading to the parking area of SM Southmall past 8 p.m.

The police official said he was on a wheelchair by Door 4 when a man approached him and shot him several times.

Balonglong said the suspect escaped as Rivera’s men retaliated.

Rivera–who survived an ambush on Macapagal Ave., Pasay in June—was rushed to Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa City.

“The customer was immediately attended to and taken to the nearby hospital accompanied by our emergency response team,” SM Supermalls said in a statement.

Rivera–who was arrested in 2015 on charges of murder—was, however, declared dead on arrival.

He had reportedly sustained gunshot wounds in the head and body.

The mall management said the incident resulted in the “temporary closure of that particular area to ensure the safety of the people in the vicinity.”

Photos online showed some mallgoers hiding under tables and chairs, and running toward exits apparently after the incident.

The mall has been declared “safe to be reopened” by government security and mall authorities.

The mall along Alabang-Zapote road is usually teeming with people on Saturdays.

Today is also the second day of a three-day sale in the mall that began on Friday.

Senior Supt. Tomas Apolinario, Southern Police District director, said the SM Southmall shooting “is not robbery holdup (n)or terrorism.”

“It’s purely (a) crime of murder,” he said.

He said the Las Pinas City Police and SPD would jointly conduct an investigation “to identify the suspect/s and solve the case…”