TWO inmates early Tuesday morning died while five others were injured in a shooting rampage at the Oriental Mindoro Provincial Jail.

Calapan City Police Station chief Lt. Col. Timoteo Espiritu Jr. identified the fatalities as suspect Edison Sulit Sampaga, 41; and victims Lowelyn Laguerta Mendoza, 36; Christian Encarnado Licuan, 45; Mark Belleza Dela Cruz, 42; Hector Culla Abes, 41; Jeffrey Bajo Delos Reyes, 37; and Alberto Lubusan Ebueza, 21.

The seven are all detainees of the Oriental Mindoro Provincial Jail in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.

The prisoners were sleeping when Sampaga suddenly shot De los Reyes repeatedly using a cal.9mm pistol at 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

Sampaga went on a shooting spree, hitting the other prisoners, before turning the gun to himself.

The seven inmates were rushed to the Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital, where Sampaga and Mendoza were declared dead on arrival.

Recovered at the crime scene were 10 fired cartridge cases, one deformed bullet, five bullet fragments, a cell phone and a holster.

Police are investigating how the gun was able to sneak into the jail cell and what triggered the suspect to shoot Mendoza and his other fellow prisoners.

Prior to the shooting incident, Sampaga was reportedly showing signs of depression.

An investigation is ongoing.

DOJ PROBE URGED

Meanwhile, a support group of families and friends of political prisoners yesterday asked the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into the shooting incident inside the Calapan City Jail in Oriental Mindoro.

Among those seriously injured five inmates was political prisoner Jeffrey Bajo Delos Reyes, 37.

Delos Reyes is in critical condition in the provincial hospital after being shot in the head by an inmate who went on a killing spree.

“How a gun was smuggled into the jail, only the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) can answer when it denies imprisoned students access to easily-monitorable devices to further their education inside jail,” said Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim,.

“The BJMP should answer for all the medical expenses entailed to save the life of Jeffrey and the others who were also shot instead of passing the buck to organizations with more compassion in assisting victims of the BJMP’s culpable negligence,” said Lim, who heads the support group for families and friends of political prisoners.

Lim said the DOJ can lead the investigation and assign the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the incident.

“This incident is the second fatal jail shooting in the past two weeks that demands an immediate probe into the miserable congested conditions of jails that severely-affect the mental and physical health of inmates,” Lim said.

Last August 26, two detainees, including a jail guard in the Marikina City Jail, were killed after taking hostage two BJMP nurses in their facility. With Hector Lawas