MANILA, Philippines—Anger, depression and drunkenness proved to be a lethal mix for a former policeman who shot and killed his 65-year-old mother before he turned the gun on himself on the street in front of their house in Tondo, Manila, Tuesday afternoon.
“He should have just killed himself. I don’t know why he had to kill our mother, too,” Lilet, the sister of Walter Valdez, told the Inquirer in Filipino.
Valdez, 36, a former police officer 1, used to be assigned at the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 9.
He joined the service in December 2001 but was dismissed in 2009 after he was diagnosed with liver disease.
Lilet said that after doctors told him he was suffering from cirrhosis, her younger brother became depressed and started drinking even more frequently.
She added that sometimes, he would fly into a drunken rage and fire his service firearm indiscriminately, prompting her and the other members of their family to file a report with the police although no action was taken against her brother.
There were also instances wherein he threatened to kill his family—composed of his mother, two sisters, wife and their two children—the latest of which happened on Saturday.
“I overheard him telling someone that if it was not for our father, he would shoot and kill all of us,” Lilet said. Their father works in Saudi Arabia.
At 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, Valdez flew into another drunken rage and kicked his 7-year-old daughter for some unknown reason after she came home from school.
Police Officer 3 Jupiter Tajonera of the MPD homicide section told the Inquirer that when Valdez’s mother, Warlita, saw the incident, she scolded her son, leading to an argument.
Valdez, however, grabbed his 9-mm service firearm and chased after her.
When he caught up with Warlita in front of their house on Matimtiman Street, he shot her once in the head.
He then started chasing the other members of his family, including Lilet and his other sister, Ernalyn, who is pregnant.
Fortunately, the two women were able to hide in a neighbor’s house on a nearby street.
A neighbor of the Valdez family, Mary Ann Kalantiaw, told reporters that after Valdez shot his mother, she saw him running back and forth on Matimtiman Street, apparently looking for the other members of his family.
Kalantiaw said that as he paced back and forth, she heard him shouting repeatedly in Filipino: “I am going to kill someone. I am going to kill all of you.”
At one point, he stopped, fired his gun into the air before he pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger, Kalantiaw added.
The police said they were trying to determine how Valdez managed to keep his service firearm even though he had been dropped from the rolls.
Originally posted at 3:11 p.m.