Mistaken shooting

NORTH COTABATO—A village chair in Magpet town here is now in jail after shooting dead a woman he mistook for an intruder.

Sylvestre Reyes, 60, chair of Barangay Bongolanon,  Magpet, is now detained at the police station facing homicide charges.

Senior Insp. Elias Colonia, police chief of Magpet, said Reyes shot Elena Isabelli, 24, whom he mistook for a robber or rapist.

Colonia said Isabelli  and her mother went to Reyes’ house around 1 a.m. on Thursday.

The visitors ignored Reyes’ inquiry who they are and what they wanted from him, prompting the village leader to suspect that the two were among armed men who were being hunted in the village for cases of rape and burglary.

Because the visitors kept quiet, Reyes brought out his Garand rifle, used the back door and saw two persons standing in front of his house.

He said he could not identify them as it was dark as the village was experiencing a power outage. The two persons, Elena and her mother, did not respond to Reyes’ inquiry so he opened fire, hitting Elena in the chest. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao