By: Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A man allegedly suffering from nervous breakdown was gunned down after attacking a policeman with a scythe at Sitio Layawan, Barangay Amdus, Ayungon, Negros Oriental Thursday, November 14.
Police Major Romel Luga, town police chief, identified the fatality as 32-year-old Lonito de Atras.
Luga said a village councilman and Atras’s sister went to the police station to ask for assistance after the suspect allegedly chased their 13-year-old-neighbor with a scythe and steel rod.
Police arrived and asked the suspect to calm down and surrender his weapons, but he became more aggressive until he chased other people in the area.
His family tried to talk him into submission but he refused to listen to them, Luga said.
Atras’s family alleged that the suspect has not eaten and slept for few days already after claiming that someone was after him, Luga said.
Luga said Atras saw Police Corporal Jhon Paul Gantalao beside their house and chased him.
Gantalao, one of the responding police officers, slipped while trying to evade the attack. He was unable to move because the suspect’s house is situated in a slope.
Luga said Gantalao allegedly shot the suspect as the latter continued to pursue him.
The suspect was declared dead at a hospital due to two gunshot wounds on his chest and chin.
Luga said the family accepted what happened since they also witnessed the incident.
