'Distraught' man stabs 2 kids to death, kills self in SoCot town

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A "distraught" man stabbed to death two children and later killed himself in Surallah town in South Cotabato Wednesday morning.

Chief Insp. Lorenzo Henares, chief of the Surallah municipal police, identified the suspect as George Jodilla, a resident of Barangay Libertad.  

Henares said the suspect reportedly came to the house of the Pamplona family in Purok 6, Barangay Liberated past 8 a.m. to visit his live-in partner who works as the family's nanny.

However, Henares said, the two engaged in a heated argument that prompted the woman to leave the house.

"After his partner left, the suspect turned to the two children and stabbed them," he said in a radio interview.

Victims Cherish, 4, and Jonah Grace, nine-months-old, were declared dead upon arrival at a local hospital by attending doctors.

After stabbing the children, the police official said Jodilla ran out of the house and stabbed himself on the chest several times.

A witness identified as Joriel Alvarez said he saw the suspect stabbing himself while trying to get out of the gate of the Pamplona residence.  

When responding police officers arrived, he said Jodilla reportedly even asked them to just shoot him.

The suspect, who was brought to the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Koronadal City, succumbed to his wounds around noon.   

The victims' parents were already out for work when the incident happened.

Their mother, Janet, is a teacher at the Libertad National High School in Surallah while their father, Nerio, is an ordained pastor of the Surallah Jesus Reigns Christian Fellowship Church Ministries. (PNA)