Couple shot dead at home

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Police are still probing the deaths of a couple who was shot by unidentified armed persons at Sitio Mansulao, Barangay San Isidro, Toboso, Negros Occidental last Saturday.

Killed were Leonardo Lagada, 60, and his live-in partner Miguela Hedorio.

Major Jun Ray Batadlan, town police chief, said the couple was at home when three persons armed with long firearms stormed their house and shot them at close range.

Batadlan said they cannot yet tell if the incident was insurgency-related, but he said that Lagada had an identification card (ID) as a force multiplier.

He also said that Lagada is a father of an incumbent barangay councilman, but they had no communication for several years because the latter is no longer living with him.

Recovered from the scene were fired bullets of 5.56mm- and .45-caliber ammunition.

Batadlan said the house of the victims is far from the town proper.

Though it belongs in one barangay, the area was also far from the site where military troopers clashed with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels at Sitio Seraje on April 6.