Mentally disturbed man hacks dead 5 relatives

ILOILO CITY—A man believed to be mentally disturbed killed five of his relatives and wounded another in Numancia town, Aklan, early Saturday, police said.

Errol Roldan, 27, entered two houses and attacked the victims with an ax and a knife around 5:30 a.m. in Barangay (village) Buswang, about 5 kilometers from the capital town of Kalibo, said Police Officer 2 Nida Gregas, public information officer of the Aklan Provincial Police Office.

He did not resist when policemen arrested him in the village, still holding a 19-inch bolo believed to be one of the weapons he used in attacking the victims.

Gregas identified the victims as Luciano Rivas, 94; his wife, Anunsacion, 92; and their daughter Felicidad. Also killed were Luciano’s sister-in-law Salvacion Rivas, 84, and her son Baltazar, 52.

Another victim, Salvacion’s daughter Rosa, was in critical condition at a hospital in Kalibo.

Luciano and Anunsacion were the parents of Roldan’s mother Connie. Salvacion was his mother’s aunt.

“The victims were most likely killed while they were sleeping,” Gregas told the Inquirer on Saturday.

Initial police investigation showed that Roldan was admitted for three months at the mental health hospital in Pototan in Iloilo after he burned down his house in August last year. Roldan’s neighbors told investigators that he became depressed last year after his wife and his children left him.—Nestor P. Burgos Jr.