OCTOBER 4, 2005
Posted October 11, 2005
Danilo Aguirre, Mindanao Bulletin
ATTACKED
Aguirre was shot and seriously wounded in General Santos City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao but escaped death because his attacker’s gun jammed. Aguirre, a business and features writer for the weekly Mindanao Bulletin, was walking to work with photographer Emmanuel Zaldimar when a hooded assailant shot him from behind with a .45 caliber pistol and then fled on a motorcycle, according to local news reports. Police Senior Inspector Aniano Delco told The Associated Press that the gunman tried to shoot Aguirre again before leaving, but his pistol jammed.
Cel T. Jubelag, publisher of the Mindanao Bulletin, said that unknown men had been following Aguirre and looking for his house over the past few days, The Manila Times reported. Jubelag said that Aguirre, 25, had only been with the paper two months and had not reported on anything controversial, although the newspaper had been investigating corruption in the judicial system, according to the AP.
Aguirre was wounded in the spine and stomach by a single shot. Zaldimar suffered minor injuries, news reports said.