This story slipped by us in the aftermath of New Year’s, but we decided to post it today because it’s so strange it could be the stuff of pulp fiction. Saturday in the Phillipines, in the capital city of Manila, councilman Reynaldo Dagsa, from the Barangay district, was shot dead outside his home while taking a photograph of family members. But in a freak occurrence, he accidentally photographed the man who killed him. The gunman is visible at left in the photo, taking aim at Dagsa an instant before pulling the trigger. The photo led directly to the arrest of the suspected gunman Michael Rollon, as well as an accomplice identified as Frederick Sales, who appears at the upper right. Both men had prior criminal records, and both were out of prison on parole at the time of the killing.
The photo was not given to the police immediately because it was not clear that Dagsa had photographed his killer, but during the investigation police asked the family for the camera Dagsa had used in hopes that it would reveal some evidence. Senior Superintendent Jude Santos, police chief of the Manila municipality of Caloocan City where the shooting occurred, admitted that if not for the photo his detectives would have had a difficult time identifying and apprehending the suspects. Both Rollon and his accomplice Sales are behind bars awaiting a hearing, and a third suspect identified as Ariel Buenaflor is being sought.
