Jonel Nuezca

Sonia Rufino Gregorio (February 27, 1965 – December 20, 2020) was 55 years old and her son, Frank, (September 10, 1995 – December 20, 2020) was 25 years old at the time of their deaths.

Both were residents of Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, Tarlac.

The incident started when Nuezca had gone to investigate the Gregorios who were setting up a boga – an improvised noisemaker cannon either made of bamboo, a PVC pipe, or linkage of opened tin cans.

When Nuezca tried to arrest Frank Anthony "Anton" Gregorio, who appeared to be drunk, his mother, 55-year-old Sonia intervened by holding her son back, which then resulted in a heated argument that escalated until Nuezca fatally shot the two victims.

According to Police Colonel Renante Cabico, director of the Tarlac Provincial Police Office, Nuezca was "off duty" at the time of the incident.

The circumstances of the incident was captured on camera: It shows Nuezca (in civilian clothes), accompanied by his daughter, rushing to the Gregorio family's house.

Nuezca was holding the boga he confiscated.

At this point, it then shows Sonia hugging her 25-year-old son Frank.

The woman was trying to prevent her son from engaging in an argument with civilian police officer Nuezca.

People in the background can be heard begging, crying and screaming.

At one point, the police told the people not to interfere and wait for the barangay officials.

Nuezca's daughter, 12-year old Elisha, was also at the scene and intervened by yelling "My father is a policeman!"

to Sonia, then Sonia yelled back "I don't care!".

The artists of the K-pop song of the same title by 2NE1, tweeted that they were sympathetic of the victims, after the song trended due to reactions on social media.

Nuezca threatened to kill the woman right before shooting her in the head; he then shot Frank twice and Sonia again, when she was already lying on the ground, in front of Nuezca's daughter and the relatives of the victims.

According to the Paniqui Municipal Police, the suspect immediately fled the crime scene and went to his parents' house in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

Nuezca was also assigned to the Parañaque City Crime Laboratory and had just returned to Paniqui, Tarlac.

The incident was reported to the police 20 minutes later and, at 6:19 p.m., Nuezca surrendered himself to a police station in Rosales, Pangasinan where he relinquished his firearms.

A day after the incident, Lt. Col. Noriel Rombaoa, chief of Paniqui Municipal Police Station, said that Nuezca had admitted his crime following his surrender to the police.

Nuezca was charged with double murder.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured that there would be no "whitewashing" in the investigation.

The PNP said that they will resolve the incident within 30 days.

They added that if Nuezca is found guilty, he will be disqualified from his duty and will lose his income.

Before the shooting, according to the victims' relatives, the family had preexisting dispute over the right of way sold by the police officer to the family of the victims.

A day after the incident, numerous netizens and celebrities condemned the killings on social media with the hashtags #StopTheKillingsPH, #PulisAngTerorista ("Police Are Terrorists"), #EndPoliceBrutality and #JusticeForSonyaGregorio dominating on Twitter in the Philippines, as well as in Singapore and Dubai.

Jonel Montales Nuezca (October 17, 1974 – November 30, 2021) was a native of Urdaneta, Pangasinan, but resided in Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, Tarlac.

He had been previously charged with two homicide cases and multiple administrative cases.

Based on a document retrieved from PRO III Chief P/Brig.

Gen. Val de Leon, Nuezca was also suspended for 10 days from his job from February 19 to 28, 2010.

In 2013, Nuezca was charged with an administrative case and grave misconduct, which was dropped.

In 2014, a "less serious neglect of duty" case was filed against Nuezca for allegedly refusing to take a drug test.

He was then sentenced to 31 days suspension.

In 2016, Nuezca was also charged with "serious neglect of duty" for allegedly not attending a court hearing as a prosecution witness in a drug case; the case was also dropped and closed.

Nuezca had two serious misconduct and homicide cases in May and December 2019, but both charges were dismissed due to "lack of substantial evidence".

On December 20, 2020, a shooting incident occurred in Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines, when a police officer, Jonel Nuezca, fatally shot two of his neighbors, Sonia and Frank Gregorio, after a heated argument over an improvised noisemaker (boga).

The victims' relatives and the perpetrator's underage daughter were present at the scene of the crime and witnessed the incident.

The incident was caught on camera and went viral on social media, sparking nationwide outrage and reigniting the discussion over police brutality and human rights violations in recent years.

According to World Population Review, data from 2020 shows that the Philippines ranked third among the countries with the highest cases of police killings with 3,451 have been recorded after Brazil and Venezuela.

During the time of his administration, Former President of the Republic of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has made remarks on ordering the police to shoot-to-kill.

However Duterte has adamantly denied its correlation to the incident, saying it doesn't mean to "shoot" civilians.