A landowner was shot dead as she tried to fight back when the gunman allegedly tried to rob her in Hacienda Locsin, Brgy. Santa Rosa, Murcia, Negros Occidental, at about 10:30 a.m. yesterday, the police said.

Senior Inspector Norberto Barniso, Murcia police chief, identified the victim as Maria Theresa Bernardita Regalado Locsin, 56, owner of Hacienda Locsin, who succumbed to gunshot wounds on the upper part of her body.

Locsin was declared dead on arrival at the Doctor’s Hospital in Bacolod City, Barniso said.

Initial investigation by the Murcia police showed that Locsin, accompanied by her farm overseer Alexander Ibañez, 31, was inspecting sugarcane and rice fields, when they saw the three suspects about 30 meters away from them.

One of the three approached them and declared a hold up, Barniso said.

Locsin, however, fought back and grappled with the gunman, Ibañez told the police, adding that as he ran away he heard four successive gunshots.

Ibañez told the Murcia police that when he returned to the crime scene, Locsin was unconscious and bathed in her own blood, while the suspects had fled towards the north.

An empty shell of a 9mm pistol was recovered by the Murcia police at the crime scene.

Barniso said the wallet of the victim and her cellular phone could not be found.

Locsin used to work as a financial adviser in New York, before she returned in Negros.

She finished her elementary education at St. Scholastica’s Academy and transferred to La Consolacion College in Bacolod City for her high school education. She pursued her college education at the Maryknoll College in Manila.

The shooting incident was relayed to the Murcia police by Santa Rosa barangay chairman Benjamen Parreño.

Barniso said pursuit operations against the fleeing gunman and his two companions were still ongoing as of last night.*GPB

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