ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—A 35-year-old farmer was so distressed after accidentally shooting his 15-year-old daughter dead he decided to commit suicide, police said.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao police command, said Jerry Bulatoc was cleaning his 12-gauge shotgun in his house in Barangay Datagan in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur, around 3:30 p.m. on May 1 when the gun suddenly went off.
His daughter, Michelle, who was sitting nearby was hit and died instantly, Huesca said, citing an investigation report.
“While inside their residence, the suspect accidentally fired his homemade shotgun and hit his daughter on the head, resulting in her instant death,” he said, adding that “it was an accidental fire.”
Huesca said that as soon as Bulatoc realized he had just killed his daughter, the farmer placed the gun’s barrel just below his jaw and pulled the trigger.
He said Bulatoc died instantly.
Huesca said what investigators were trying to determine now was how and why Bulatoc acquired the weapon.