A candidate for councilor of Cotabato City was killed while his two children were wounded when they were shot by three armed men in what police believed to be a botched kidnapping-for-ransom, a police official said Tuesday.

The lone fatality was identified as Joseph Khalipsar Kuan, 39, businessman and an independent candidate for councilor of Cotabato City while his two children were identified as Jay Ann, 14, and six-year-old Czarie.

Senior Supt. Willie Dangane, Cotabato City police director, said Kuan was bringing his two kids to their school, Cotabato Chinese Institute, when three armed men flagged down the pick-up vehicle he was driving near the school on Manara Street, Rosary Height 11 in Cotabato City at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The gunmen then boarded their car and a few minutes later, a burst of gunfire was heard as narrated by witnesses, said Dangane.

“One of the suspects commandeered the vehicle and sped off towards San Pablo village however, victim presumably resisted that caused the vehicle to bump concrete fence,” said Dangane.

It was not clear, however, if the victims were hit in the first volley of gunfire or were shot after the car crashed on the concrete fence.