ONE PRIEST KILLED, ANOTHER INJURED IN CASTALLON CHURCH BURGLARY
Posted Thurs, April 5, 2018 | Updated as of April 5, 2018 9:11 PM
NUEVA CASTALLON, NUEVA CASTALLON -- One priest was shot dead and another injured during what the police described as a burglary at a Catholic Church in Nueva Castallon City on Wednesday morning.
The police were notified of a burglary at about 2 a.m. Wednesday at the rectory attached to St. Jude Thaddeus Parish, SPO1 Stefano Garcia told the CBN News.
"Both victims are the clergymen living in the parish. When the officers arrived they found one priest with gunshot wounds and the other assaulted, but not shot," he said.
Both priests were rushed to a hospital, yet one was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nueva Castallon identified the slain priest as the Fr. Deogracias Serrano and the injured priest as Fr. Emilio Talavera. Fr. Serrano, 47, died from the gunshot wounds while Fr. Talavera, 26, was listed in critical condition with unspecified injuries.
Serrano and Talavera served as parish priest and parochial vicar of the Parish of St. Jude Thaddeus, respectively.
"The police are still gathering information and trying to sort through the details of this senseless act of violence," the archdiocese said in a statement. "We ask that people offer prayers for both priests, the religious community, their families and the parish."
At a news conference in the Nueva Castallon Police Station, Mayor Giovanni Galdamez voiced his disbelief that someone could commit such a crime inside a church.
"Every Castallonon should feel safe in a house of worship," Galdamez said.
On the other hand, Garcia asked for the public's continued support for the victims, as well as information that could help investigators solve the crime.
"There is no immediate description of the assailant or assailants, and we need the public's help on this one," Garcia said. -- XIAN LAPUZ, SBC BICOL
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VIOLENT ATTACK ON TWO CASTALLON PRIESTS STUNS AND SADDENS CHURCH
Posted April 5, 2018
CIUDAD DE NUEVA CASTALLON, Nueva Castallon -- The Archdiocese of Nueva Castallon is "stunned and deeply saddened" about the "tragic assault" on a downtown Castallonon church that took the life of one priest and another critically injured.
Fr. Deogracias Serrano, 47, died of gunshot wounds, while Father Emilio Talavera, 26, survived the attack and remained hospitalized in critical condition.
"The police are still gathering information and are trying to sort through the details of this senseless act of violence," the diocese said in a statement. "We ask that people offer prayers for both priests, the religious community, their families and the parish."
Father Serrano was pronounced dead at the hospital due to multiple gunshot wounds. On the other hand, a police spokesman described Father Talavera's injuries as severe, as he was slit in the neck by the assaulters.
It was the parish's neighbors that called the police shortly after 2am, upon hearing gunshot sounds in the rectory. One witness saw a white Mazda car leave the place rushingly.
Yet no one saw the assaulters.
At a news conference at the Nueva Castallon Police Department on the morning of April 4, Police Chief Andres Velasco asked the community for assistance in solving the crime.
BINABASA MO ANG
Ang Kwento ni Amartya
General FictionAmartya's goal for her senior year is straightforward: to finish her senior thesis in Nueva Castallon, graduate, and dip. Constantly crossing paths with a young clergyman named Emilio was out of the list... and so is discovering that her sister is h...
