Cemetery guard shoots man for picking flowers

The police are hot on the trail of a security guard who fled after shooting a man gathering calachuchi flowers inside La Loma Cemetery in Caloocan City yesterday.

Victim Christopher Lagmari, 25, lived to tell the story and is now recuperating in a hospital.

Senior Police Officer 2 Vivencio Gamboa, officer-on-case, said Manuel Llagas, a security guard of the La Loma Cemetery, could have mistaken Lagmari for a thief. Llagas fled after the shooting, taking with him the 12-gauge shotgun he used.

Lagmari, who did odd jobs for a living, told the police that he was picking flowers at around 5 p.m. from one of the many calachuchi trees at the cemetery when the suspect accosted him. He said he intended to sell the flowers later.

Llagas allegedly shouted at him asking what he was doing up the tree. As Lagmari tried to explain his case, Llagas, without warning, pointed his 12-gauge shotgun at him and fired.

Lagmari fell heavily from the tree as the shotgun pellets peppered the left side of his arm and back.

He was rushed by local residents to the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center Hospital in Manila. — With Ian Estrada