LUCENA CITY, Philippines — Four persons were killed when an unidentified man opened fire at a wake in Barangay Ilog in Infanta, Quezon on Wednesday night.
Col. Osmundo de Guzman, Quezon police director, said small town lottery operator Michael Cuento, 50; his cousins Herman, 70, and Leon, 73, also surnamed Cuento, and Manuel Cuerdo, 41, were pronounced dead on arrival at the Claro M. Recto Memorial District Hospital.
Napoleon Miras, 68, chairman of Barangay Poblacion 1, and Maximo, 65, also surnamed Cuento, were wounded and brought to the same hospital for treatment.
Witnesses said Michael appeared to be the target, noting that when the STL operator fell to the ground, the gunman finished him off with more shots.
The assailant escaped on a motorcycle driven by his cohort.
Police records showed that Michael survived an ambush in 2016. The gunman is being held at the Quezon district jail.
In 2017, one of Michael’s employees was killed in a gun attack.
Probers are eyeing business rivalry as the motive for the killings. – Emmanuel Tupas, Ed Amoroso