Cop kills woman over unpaid rent

MANILA, Philippines - A woman was shot dead by a masked man who turned out to be her landlord, a Northern Police District (NPD) policeman, because she failed to pay the rent on her house in Caloocan City.

Mary Claire Aparese, 21, was walking with a relative along Tirona street in Bagong Barrio Monday night when a man wearing a bonnet shot her in the head.

A witness, however, saw Police Officer 3 Jessie Quinto take off the mask at his house shortly after the shooting.

About a month before the shooting, Quinto and Aparese had a heated argument over her failure to pay her house rent. Quinto was also heard to have threatened to kill Aparese.