Twin murders suspect gunned down by victims’ kin in Batangas

SAN PEDRO CITY –– A man, who allegedly shot dead two people, one of them a 12-year-old, was chased and killed by a mob, exacting revenge for the murders of their family in Rosario town in Batangas province.

In a phone interview Monday, Police Major Jaime Pederio Jr., police chief of Rosario, said the killings took place around 3 p.m. Sunday in a remote village of Antipolo, about an hour away from the town center.

Pederio said it started when the slain suspect, Mark Anthony Claveria, 33, with “no apparent reason,” shot in the head Leo Guico, 45, and Guico’s nephew, Cyruss Ethaniel Pusing, 12, at home.

“They were neighbors, actually distant relatives, who lived in one compound,” Pederio said.

Claveria took off on a motorcycle but had not gone far, when he slipped, as the victims’ relatives chased him on a rough road, Pederio said based on their investigation.

It was then that Claveria was shot and killed by one of the relatives.

Pederio said the village watchmen later reported the incidents to the police.

“When we got there, nobody in the family wanted to speak up as to who shot Claveria,” he said. He also believed the gun used in killing Claveria was kept away.

Claveria, according to police records, previously spent seven years in jail in Cavite for illegal drug use but was released on a plea bargaining agreement. His family suspected Claveria started using drugs again, police said.

Pederio said Claveria’s mother told them they would not file any more charges for his killing.

“While we understand how furious they were (over the deaths of Guico and Pusing), this (Claveria’s killing) is still murder that we have to investigate,” Pederio said.

Edited by Lzb