CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – An inmate was killed while five others are now in critical condition after another inmate who later shot himself reportedly fired at the victims in close range inside the provincial jail early morning Tuesday, September 7.
Lt. Col. Timoteo L. Espiritu Jr., chief of Calapan City Police Station identified the suspect as 41-year old Edison Sampaga and the dead victim as Lowelyn Mendoza, 36, single while the other victims are Jeffrey de los Reyes, 37; Christian Licuan, 45; Hector Abes, 41; Mark de la Cruz, 42; Alberto Ebueza, 21.
Police investigation disclosed that at about 3 a.m., prison guard Ricky Rom personally appeared at their station and reported the shooting incident.
Rom told police that at about 2:00 a.m. while everybody were sleeping except for the duty guards, Sampaga suddenly shot De los Reyes several times in different parts of his body using a 9mm caliber pistol with serial number BS05150.
The bullets also hit the other sleeping prisoners who hid beside their personal belongings inside the cell.
Col. Espiritu said they are conducting an in-depth investigation of the incident as he learned from some detainees that the suspect was showing signs of depression for the past several days.