BY MA. THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO – A pharmacy owner was shot to death in Barangay Mat-y, Miag-ao town on Thursday afternoon, May 9, while the gunman was also killed following around seven hours of standoff with the police.
Miag-ao police identified the victim as Javier Pio, a resident of the town’s Barangay Tacas. He succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound on his head.
According to the investigation of the Miag-ao Municipal Police Station, Javier went to Barangay Mat-y to inspect a property he intended to buy.
Police said the victim encountered the suspect identified as Renato Fredecilla of Barangay Mat-y, who was reportedly suffering from a nervous breakdown. The suspect later shot the victim for no apparent reason.
Miag-ao police added that the armed suspect immediately went home and barricaded himself inside.
Police officers, with the help of Fredecilla’s sibling and barangay officials, tried to negotiate with the suspect to surrender but to no avail.
The suspect later opened the window of his house and fired shots at the police.
Members of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s (IPPO) Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team later responded but the suspect continued to resist arrest and fired shots at authorities.
Police was later forced to use teargas against the suspect. After a 30-minute wait, authorities entered the suspect’s house and he was found wounded.
Police also recovered his caliber .45 pistol.
Fredecilla was rushed to a hospital but he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
As of this writing, police were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspect’s gunshot wound on his chest.
Meanwhile, Miag-ao police chief Captain Francis Donne Lomahan said Fredecilla’s family refused an autopsy on his body./PN
