2 carpenters dead, 1 hurt in Marawi shooting

ILIGAN CITY –– Two construction workers died while another was wounded when unidentified assailants shot them around 7 a.m. Thursday at the national highway along Barangay Emmie Punud in Marawi City.

The crime scene is near the transitory shelter site in Barangay Sagonsongan, where more than a thousand families displaced during the Marawi siege in 2017 are temporarily living.

Colonel Madzgani Mukaram, Lanao del Sur police chief, identified the dead victims as Jorge Ambad Butad and Arturo Nadayag Macasero, while the wounded victim is Dave Ranario Morsua.

The three are residents of Barangay Matampay in Matungao, Lanao del Norte.

Mukaram said the victims were working as carpenters of a house in Marawi City.

They were on their way to work, on board a motorcycle driven by Macasero, when the still unidentified suspect flagged them down and had a brief conversation with the victims.

“Suddenly the suspect, without apparent reason, shot the victims several times that caused the death of Butad and Macasero, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds,” a police report sent by Mukaram stated.

The suspect then fled on a waiting motorcycle, heading towards the direction of Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur.

Morsua was brought to the nearest hospital for treatment.

Police are still investigating the motive behind the crime. /lzb