Woman shot near guard house

Is a car pass for entry in one’s own neighborhood worth  losing a  life?

A 39-year-old woman was killed after an argument with  subdivision security guards in Lapu-Lapu City who refused to open the gate to let her car enter because it didn’t  have a homeowner’s sticker.

Rose Ann La Paz, a resident of Grand Pacific Villa Subdivision, was fatally shot in the chest  with the guard’s shotgun, allegedly fired by an employee who was present in the confrontation on Friday evening.

Police are looking for Randy Emborong, a staff collector of the Grand Pacific Villa Subdivision management.

The upscale neighborhood hosts Mediterranean-style houses in sitio Suba-Masulog in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.

La Paz was rushed to the Mactan Doctors’ Hospital with a gunshot wound in the chest.  She didn’t survive.

Last Friday, she arrived at the gate on board a Mitsubishi Montero, according to the police.

She instructed her son, Buenjer, to open the gate since the guard didn’t do so despite her blowing the vehicle’s horn.

A confrontation ensued.

Police said security guard Rodulfo Cavalida of the St. Louis Security Agency was on duty with fellow guard Elmer Villarba and Emborong.

Initial reports said  the guard was instructed by Emborong not to open the gate because La Paz’s vehicle didn’t have a sticker or entry pass,  as required by the homeowners association.

A quarrel erupted after the woman confronted Emborong and the two guards.

According to one of the guards, Villarba, Emborong suddenly grabbed his service shotgun and fired at the woman.

Emborong and the other guard Cavalida fled on foot right after that.

Police were notified about 2 p.m. yesterday that the woman had expired in the hospital.

The gun used in the violence was recovered and will be subjected to a ballistics tests.

During police interrogation, Villarba revealed that Emborong and the slain woman had previous confrontations about the vehicle sticker rule, which  La Paz didn’t follow.