Man killed inside Archbishop’s Residence was mentally disturbed, says father

The man who was shot dead in a shootout with policemen inside the Archbishop’s Residence compound on Tuesday badly wanted advice from Cebu’s top Church leader, his father said.

“He was mentally disturbed. It’s been a while since he separated with his wife and so he wanted to speak and get an advice from a top leader of the Church,” said Feliciano Cañedo in an interview.

He said he had no idea that his son Jefrey went to the Archbishop’s Residence in Cebu City supposedly to talk to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma who was in Manila.

“He really wanted to have her marriage annulled and work again abroad,” said Cañedo, a retired policeman.

Jefrey, 41, and a resident of Barangay Labangon, Cebu City, was wearing a face mask and a helmet when he entered the compound of the Archbishop’s Residence at 10:40 a.m.

Asked briefly by the guards what was his purpose and who he wanted to meet at the Archbishop’s Residence, the man replied “Si Bishop Palma” before he sped off on board his motorycle.

While talking Jefrey, one of the staff of Palma notice what seemed to be a firearm tucked on the man’s waist, prompting him to call the police.

When the police came, Jefrey refused to talk to the police and instead fired at the operatives using his .38 revolver.

He was subsequently neutralized.

His father was trying to hold back tears when he learned about his son’s death.

“My son was a good man. . . But let me entrust everything to God,” he said.

Jefrey, the eldest of four siblings, was an employee of the Cebu City’s Department of Public Services and an overseas worker in Qatar.

He has two children.