In the morning of November 14, 1984, Climaco rushed to the scene of a fire that had broken out in downtown Zamboanga City. He supervised operations to put out the fire, then prepared to leave. He sighted a display of caskets at a nearby funeral home and jokingly said, reserve one of those for me.  Climaco then mounted his motorcycle to return to his office. A man approached from behind the mayor and shot him in the nape at point-blank range. The assassin escaped, while Climaco was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.