Policeman kills couple preparing for wedding

IT will be a blue Christmas for relatives and friends of Joseph Agravante and Edeliza Manuel who were preparing for their wedding when they were shot dead on Monday afternoon in Dupax del Sur town in Nueva went berserk.

Agravante, 25, of Barangay Balzain in Dupax del Sur, and Manuel, 25, an overseas Filipino worker from Barangay Mabuslo in Bambang town, were out distributing invitations during that day for their wedding after Christmas on December 28.

It was around 4 p.m. when po del Sur town police station reportedly went to the Agravantes’ house in Barangay Balzain looking for Joseph’s sister Florenda.

Rose Guinir, a relative of the Agravantes, said she was telling Goze that Florenda was still at work at the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital (NVPH) in Bambang town when Joseph and Edeliza arrived.

“Then suddenly a burst of gunfire followed, and then we saw the two [Joseph and Edeliza] sprawling and bathing in their own blood,” Guinir, who lives two houses away, said.

She added that they could not get near the house because gun-

“My brother went to the police station to call for help. When the police arrived, Goze fought with his colleagues,” Guinir said.

According to Scene of the Crime Operatives, Goze was killed in an

Edeliza was found still breath between police operatives and Goze stopped.

She, however, died a few hours later at the Veteran’s Regional Hospital in Bayombong town where she was brought.

Relatives and friends said Florenda learned that Goze, who was courting her, was already committed and that she did not want a relationship.

Employees at the NVPH said they saw Goze and Florenda on Monday morning talking and have also seen them quite often quarrelling.

“He [Goze] might have been very angry because Florenda knew he was already married and would not want a relationship to develop,” Guinir said.

Police said they found bottles of beer inside Goze’s car parked near the crime scene.

“He must have been drinking too much and lost control of himself,” witnesses said.