Hostage-taker kills wife, Zambo Norte councilor

DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – A hostage-taker killed his wife and a municipal councilor during a 20-hour hostage drama Monday morning in Godod town in Zamboanga del Norte.

In a report to Camp Hamac here, Senior Inspector Olympus Wee, Godod police chief, identified the hostage-taker as Norman Meay, 35, and the two fatalities as his wife Marciana, 34, and Sangguniang Bayan member Allan Buayan, the acting chairman of the municipal crisis committee.

Meay, armed with a shotgun, also took his three children – Norman Meay, Jr., seven; Reynaldo, four; and Melissa, five months old – as hostages.

The crisis committee formed by Wee tried for almost 20 hours to negotiate the release of Meay’s wife and children first before talking things out with the suspect.

But Meay asked to talk first to Buayan who, upon consultation with policemen who had cordoned the area, agreed to approach him.

But when Buayan reached Meay’s frontyard, the latter fired at the councilor, killing him on the spot.

At this instance, policemen swooped down on Meay’s residence and rescued his three children. The law enforcers later found the body of Meay’s wife who was apparently choked to death as evidenced by contusions and injuries on her neck.

Meay was disarmed and taken to the municipal police station. Criminal charges were being readied against him.

Police suspected that jealousy could have driven Meay in committing the crime. – With Roel Pareño