Man kills 10 people, hurts 16 other persons in Samar

By Ronron
June 2, 2007

A man who is said to be mentally disturbed went amok before dawn of Saturday, killing 10 persons including children and wounding 16 others, all his neighbors, some even his relatives, in Calbayog City, Samar, the city police chief said.

Danny Guades, 39, a jobless resident of Barangay Gadgaran in said city, was seen by his neighbors to have gotten drunk late Friday night before he went on a hacking spree around 2am in the same village.

“This suspect is a known trouble-maker in that village. He was even brought here in the police station once for creating trouble there,” Chief Insp. Anecito Tecbobolan, chief of the Calbayog City Police Station, told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview yesterday.

In a separate interview later in the day, SPO3 Jessie Gianan of the same police station told Manila Shimbun that Guades admitted committing the crime out of his desire to make his amulet work even stronger.

“He (Guades) told me he has to kill people so his amulet will become more effective. His amulet is like a prayer, which he said is in Latin, written on a piece of paper,” Gianan said in Filipino.

Tecbobolan said Guades first attacked four houses next to his house using a bladed weapon (22 inches in length) before heading to a wake about 400 meters away where he continued harassing other people.

The police chief said eight persons died on the spot, while 18 others were wounded and brought to St. Camilo’s Hospital and Sanitarium Hospital in the same city for medical treatment.

However, tow of the wounded victims expired while going under the knife at St. Camilo’s Hospital.

Of the 10 slain victims, at least six are minors, with age ranging from 12 to one year old.

Five of the 16 wounded victims are minors as well, from 12 years old to three years old.

Police said that out of the 26 victims, 17 were attacked by Guades while they were inside their houses. Two others were hurt as Guades was heading towards the wake, and the remaining seven were guests at the wake.

Tecbobolan said all victims sustained hack wounds all over their bodies.

Guades surrendered at around 5am to a prominent resident in the barangay, identified as Fortunato Porbana, claiming he fears being chased by police and being killed in the process, said Tecbobolan.

Porbana then turned over Guades to policemen who went to his residence.

The bladed weapon was recovered from Guades’ possession, said Tecbobolan.

Tecbobolan said Guades initially denied the killings, and admitted responsibility only to the killing of his brother some time ago in Manila.

“We could not talk to him properly because he appears to be not in his right senses. He gives us many different answers every time we attempt to ask him,” Tecbobolan said of Guades who is now under the custody of the city police.

Tecbobolan said charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder will be filed against Guades.

“This is the first time that we had this kind of incident in the history of this city. There was a case before of a man going amok but it happened during the day and only one was killed. Nothing like this serious happened until today,” Tecbobolan said./DMS