Councilor unhurt in grenade blast 6 months after gun attack

GAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – A councilor in this city survived a grenade attack on Friday morning, five months after he and his wife were wounded when they were attacked by armed men in their house here, police said.

Senior Superintendent Crizaldo Nieves, Nueva Ecija police director, said Councilor Danilo de Guzman was not hurt when a hand grenade exploded in his yard in Barangay (village) Malimba.

De Guzman and his family were inside the house when witnesses saw two men on separate motorcycles near the area, police said. One of the men hurled the grenade at De Guzman’s house.

Nieves said the explosion damaged the councilor’s vehicle, which was parked in the garage.

He said police had yet to establish the motive behind the attack, although investigators had reviewed video of the attack taken by a closed- circuit television camera nearby.

In August last year, De Guzman and his wife, Julieta, were wounded when a group of men armed with rifles barged into their house and shot them.

The attack on the councilor last year was one of four cases of gun violence that prompted the Nueva Ecija police office to replace the city police chief.