Miner goes berserk, wounds 4

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Four people, including a minor, were wounded when a drunk coal miner went amuck and lobbed a grenade in Zamboanga Sibugay last Sunday, police said.

Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, spokesman of the Zamboanga Peninsula police, said the miner, Richard Talucod, had come from a drinking spree supposedly to take his mind off his marital woes and other problems.

Gucela said Talucod went home and returned with a grenade and a caliber .45 pistol, which he fired indiscriminately.

Police said village leaders managed to grab the gun from Talucod, but not the grenade, which the miner lobbed, wounding four neighbors in Barangay Little Baguio.

The victims were identified as Domingo Talucod, Albert Atienza, Aquino Atas, and six-year-old Johnny Caso.

The suspect escaped toward the nearby town of Malangas and is now being hunted.