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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Mindanao reporter shot (1:20 p.m.)
By Edwin G. Espejo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A reporter of a local weekly tabloid was shot and critically wounded early this morning just a few meters from the office of the Mindanao Bulletin.
Danilo Aguirre, 25 years old and father of two, and a companion were on their way back to the office after buying a shampoo from a nearby store when a gunman armed with a .45 caliber pistol approached him from behind.
His companion, a certain Emmanuel Zaldivar, however saw the suspect point the gun on Aguirre’s head and pushed the gunman before the latter could fire his pistol.
As a result, Aguirre was hit on the back.
Zaldivar said the suspect tried to fire another round but the gun apparently jammed.
The suspect, who was wearing a helmet, hastily fled in the ensuing scuffle.
Witnesses said the suspect was seen boarding a getaway motorcycle several meters away from the scene of the shooting incident.
Aguirre was brought to the General Santos City Doctors Hospital where he is now undergoing an operation.
Doctors say they are still determining if the bullet hit the victim’s vital organs.
This morning’s shooting incident was the first violent attack against a member of the local press in the city since Jonathan Abayon was killed in August 2003.
Mindanao Bulletin managing editor John Paul Jubelag said they still do not have any suspect in the latest shooting incident although he admitted that they have been receiving death threats.
He said Aguirre, who has been a correspondent of Mindanao Bulletin for just over two months, has no known enemy.
Jubelag believes the shooting was work-related and was meant "to harass and hurt us."
Inquirer correspondent Aquiles Zonio, local chapter president of the National Union of Journalist in the Philippines, also immediately condemned the attack.
"NUJP condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted murder of Danilo Aguirre by unknown suspect," he said.
He appealed to law enforcers to get into the bottom of the case and immediately apprehend the suspects. |
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