Dagupan City inmate guns down jail guard

MANAOAG, Pangasinan – A Dagupan City inmate   facing rape charges shot dead a jail guard who escorted him for a medical checkup Saturday, police said.

Superintendent Mateo Casupang, Manaoag police chief, said a manhunt is on for Jose Pepito Salayog, 50, who hit Jail Officer 1 Bernabe de Leon with a piece of wood on the forehead and shot him in the head with his service firearm.

De Leon was to escort Salayog to the Trauma Hospital in Dagupan, but along the way, they dropped by the house of Salayog’s brother in Barangay Babasit in Manaoag town where the incident happened.

Casupang said De Leon was having a cup of coffee when Salayog struck him on the head with piece of wood. Salayog then grabbed the jail guard’s caliber .38 revolver, shot him and then fled.

Casupang said Salayog was not wearing handcuffs all along and that the supposed medical checkup had no court clearance.

Police recovered De Leon’s revolver and found an empty shell and five live bullets in the house of Salayog’s brother, who was the one who reported the incident to the police. – With Cesar Ramirez