ALAVERA, Nueva Ecija, Philippines –The chief of police of this town was shot and killed by his drunken deputy whom he tried to disarm in the town’s police station on Saturday night.

Reports said Supt. Ricardo Dayag Jr., the chief of police here, was off duty but decided to drop by the station past 8 p.m. Saturday as he and his family, who came from Cagayan, were on their way to Pampanga.

When Dayag arrived to check his men, he found his deputy, Insp. Bernardo Castro, whom he designated as officer in charge, absent in the station.

“While inside the station, Dayag heard two gunshots,” said Senior Supt. Roberto Aliggayu, Nueva Ecija police director.

SPO3 Mario Mendoza, case investor, said Dayag went out to check the source of the gunshots and asked aloud, “Who fired a gun?”

Mendoza said when Dayag saw Castro carrying a 9-mm pistol, he asked his deputy to surrender it to him. “Give me your gun. Surrender your gun,” a police report quoted Dayag as saying.

However, Castro fired at Dayag, hitting Dayag in the foot. The first shot was followed by more that hit Dayag in the head and body.

Aliggayu said Dayag died while being taken to a hospital here.

Aliggayu said Dayag was unarmed during the shooting. “It was only Castro who fired his gun. The other policemen scampered,” he said.

Castro, after attacking Dayag, ran to a row of parked vehicles in the nearby town hall compound and stayed there for at least 30 minutes before Aliggayu arrived and negotiated his surrender.

Castro yielded past 9 p.m. Policemen found his gun under a parked ambulance.

Aliggayu said Dayag was only on his third month as chief of police of Talavera while Castro served as his deputy in the last two months.

Aliggayu could not say what prompted Castro to attack Dayag as the officer refused to talk about the case. He confirmed, however, that Castro was drunk.

“[Castro] knows [about] his right not to talk,” he said.

Castro was taken in custody in Cabanatuan City while administrative and criminal charges were being prepared against him.

Lilia Dayag, 46, the victim’s wife, said she has to accept what happened but the family wanted justice. “That’s only what I can say, we have to accept it,” she said.

The case was among a number of killings and injuries related to New Year revelry in northern and central Luzon.