Randy David believes he was wrong target in house shooting

Even as he said he may have been a victim of mistaken identity, retired University of the Philippines professor and newspaper columnist Randy David maintained he is not keen on hiring a guard or arming himself after armed men fired at his house in Quezon City Tuesday night. In his newspaper column, David asserted he had no known enemy and he would not want to complicate his life by hiring a security guard or arming himself.  "I’ve been writing for the last 17 years about issues and the public lives that are embroiled in them. But I have always made it a point not to dig into personal troubles, or call people names. Is it possible that the attackers had mistaken my house for someone else’s residence? I like to think this was the case," he said in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Unidentified armed men fired at David's house in Diliman, Quezon City Tuesday night. No one was hurt in the incident. David's wife Karina is a member of the board of trustees at the Government Service Insurance System. His daughter Kara is an award-winning television journalist with GMA Network. But police said they are still not discounting the possibility that Tuesday night's attack was related to his work as a journalist. "Alam mo naman sa trabaho ninyo, may kolumnista sometimes may write-up na naapektuhan ang iba," Quezon City Police District (QCPD) head Chief Superintendent Mario dela Vega said in an interview aired early Thursday on dzBB radio. Dela Vega also assigned added patrols around David's house to deter possible further attacks. Still, David said in his newspaper column he was not going to complicate his life by arming himself or hiring a guard. He said he would rather trust in good neighbors and friends. "(I) know I’m not about to complicate my life by getting a security guard to protect my household or carrying a gun to defend myself. I will just have to find security in the thought that my wife and I have good neighbors and a legion of protective friends," he said. David said that when he heard the shots, he instinctively ducked but did not feel alarmed, saying he was "quite sure the shots were not meant for me or my wife, or anyone living in the house." He called the campus police and reported the matter then went out and checked. "Moments like this make you ask why. You have led a fairly quiet life in academe, commenting on issues, but far from the frenzied world of politics," he said. Cops still tracing vehicle in attack A separate dzBB report said the QCPD had so far traced the license plate number (UDM-191) of the FX-type vehicle used by the assailants. The plate was registered to a Nissan aluminum van. Police said it is possible the plate was stolen and mounted on the assailants' vehicle. But the report added investigators are still trying to determine what their motive was. — LBG, GMA News