Philippine Man Captures Killer in Photo Moments Before He’s Shot

The police used the shocking photo to identify and arrest the alleged gunman.

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Dagsa Family/AFP/Getty Images

Councilman Reynaldo Dagsa of Barangay, Philippines, was with his family soon after midnight on New Year’s Day. He took out his camera to take a photo of his family and inadvertently captured a man taking aim at him with a handgun. The councilman was shot in the chest and arm and was dead on arrival at the hospital.

(Read TIME’s story about the strict gun ban in the Philippines during the election season.)

The photo he produced is an astonishing and unsettling look at what he saw moments before his own death. The Philippine Daily Inquirer even published it on its front page. Fortunately, his family was able to give the photo to police, who arrested a man named Michael Gonzales. Police say Gonzales was a suspected car thief that the councilman had previously sent to jail.