CAMP VICENTE LIM, Philippines — A 70-year-old farmer who shot three persons he thought were thieves was killed in a gunfight with police in Kawit, Cavite, early on Monday.
Senior Superintendent John Bulalacao, police director of Cavite, identified the slain suspect as Boy Evangelista.
He said Evangelista was tracked down by police hours after he went on a shooting spree that killed Joel Hernandez Manisi and wounded two other persons.
Manisi, who was driving a motorcycle with two companions on board, was only passing by Evangelista’s farm near the corner of Kalayaan Street and Centennial Road in Barangay (village) Batundalig at around 5:45 a.m. when the farmer fired shots at them, using a .45 caliber pistol, according to Bulalacao.
Manisi was instantly killed while his companions were brought to a hospital in Dasmariñas City due to a number of gunshot wounds.
“[Evangelista] probably thought the three would steal from his farm,” Bulalacao said.
When policemen arrived at his farm barely an hour after shooting, Evangelista again fired shots using an M16 rifle, this time at the police, as he escaped into the woods.
After three hours, or at about 8:45 a.m., pursuing cops found Evangelista behind a large tree, about 500 meters from the area where he shot Manisi and his companions.
Bulalacao said Evangelista again fired his gun, prompting the police to return fire and kill the farmer.
Police recovered the .45 caliber pistol Evangelista had dropped after shooting the three men and an M16 rifle at the site where he was killed, Bulalacao said.