A 40-YEAR-OLD farmer was shot dead on his way home, a possible victim of a neighbor’s grudge, in barangay Paculob, Dumanjug town, southern Cebu, last Sunday.
Romulo Talotalo was brought to the Barili District Hospital where he was declared dead by doctors.
Police arrested his neighbor, Sosimo “Sosing” Pace, 43, as the main suspect yesterday morning.
Police said they are looking into personal grudge as the motive of the crime.
The farmer was attacked 50 meters from his house around 11 p.m. after he came home from a basketball game in Cogon, a nearby barangay.
Police said Talotalo, who was shot in the stomach and arm, ran to his house and told his daughter, “Day, ipapatay si Sosing.” (Daughter, have Sosing killed.)
The two men had an argument over a stolen chicken, said PO2 Florencio Flarion of the Dumanjug police in a phone interview.
The victim’s neighbors recounted that Pace brought a stolen chicken to the victim’s house last week where both men had it cooked for a meal.
Pace, who is detained in the Dumanjug police office, denied any wrongdoing. He did not resist arrest.
The farmer will undergo a paraffin test today to determine whether he had fired a gun recently.
Police said a murder charge will be filed against him today at the Cebu Provincial Proseuctor’s Office.
The victim’s dying declaration to his daughter is the main evidence in the case./ REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL with correspondent gabriel bonjoc