Family of 6 hacked dead in Cagayan

By Raymund Catindig 

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- — Six members of a family including three minors were hacked dead by an unidentified suspect in Gonzaga, Cagayan Tuesday.

Chief Insp. Elpidio Zingapan, town police chief, identified the fatalities as Dizon Oandasan, 42; his wife Sany, 47; their children Wilson, 13; Karen, 12, and Dizon Jr., 5, and relative Juanito Soliva, 55.

The youngest member of the family, three-year-old Denison, was rushed to the Cagayan Valley Medical Center in this town for treatment of hack wounds.

              The minor was in critical condition, police said.

The crime occurred at the house of the Oandasans in a remote area of Sitio San Francisco, Barangay Ipil.

He said the killer, believed armed with a bladed weapon, could have barged into the house of the victims at dawn.

The traces of blood found at the crime scene were still fresh when responding police officers arrived at around 7 a.m., Zingapan said.

Police are verifying reports that the killer could have suffered injuries during a scuffle with the victims.

This was after investigators received information that a wounded man sought treatment at a local hospital at around the same time the crime was discovered.

               Probers are eyeing a land dispute as the motive for the killing.