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A policeman in the Philippines has been charged for the double shooting of his neighbours at point-blank range, a 52-year-old woman and her 25-year-old son, following a dispute, both the BBC and Philippines media ABS-CBN reported.
The incident happened on Dec. 20, in the city of Tarlac, with the accused, Jonel Nuezca, turning himself in about an hour after the incident, CNN Philippines reported.
Video reportedly shows man shooting neighbours in front of his daughter
A video of the incident circulating on social media purportedly showed Nuezca in a heated dispute with Sonia Gregorio and her son, Frank Gregorio, before shooting them at point-blank range.
Nuezca also appeared to be accompanied by a girl who is reportedly his daughter, according to CNN Philippines.
Prior to the shooting, the girl can be heard shouting, "My father is a policeman," to which the elder Gregorio responds by saying that she does not care.
The woman's arms can also be seen wrapped around her son, reportedly to prevent Nuezca from taking him away.
Meanwhile, Nuezca can be heard threatening to kill the elder Gregorio. He then proceeds to shoot her in the head and fires at her son twice, followed by another shot at the woman's body, as she lies on the ground.
Dispute reportedly trigged by improvised cannon, evolved into land dispute
BBC further reported that the dispute was supposedly triggered by the younger Gregario setting off an improvised cannon, made out of a PVC pipe.
The argument then evolved into an ongoing land dispute between the two families.
The Inquirer reported that Nuezca fled the scene on motorcycle immediately after the incident.
Duterte: "I am dumbfounded"
Meanwhile the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has since condemned the incident, according to PhilStar.
"Do your duty enforce the law. Your actions must be in accordance with the law. You do not follow the law, mag-salvage ka, magpatay ka diyan (if you kill people), then I'm sorry, that is not part of the agreement of how we should do our work."
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año also condemned the killings but called it an "isolated" incident.
His statement was echoed by the Philippine National Police (PNP), which described the matter as an "isolated incident".
ABS-CBN further quoted the PNP chief as saying,"In no way will such incident affect the sworn duty of the 221,000 police personnel to serve and protect our people."
However, critics of Duterte have slammed the killings as a result of the President excusing police misconduct on various occasions, and normalising a culture of impunity.
Screenshot from CNN Philippines Twitter