PBA player, brother face attempted homicide raps

MANILA, Philippines — Embattled Philippine Basketball Association player John Anthony Amores and his brother John Red were charged with attempted homicide in connection with a shooting incident in Lumban, Laguna on Wednesday.

The Laguna provincial prosecutor’s office filed the cases against the 25-year-old shooting guard of Northport and his younger brother before the Lumban-Kalayaan Municipal Circuit Trial Court on Thursday.

The prosecutor’s office said the Amores brothers conspired and helped one another in shooting the victim, Lee Cacalda, with an unlicensed gun, “thus commencing the commission of the crime.”

It is not clear, though, why the prosecutor’s office downgraded the case, filed initially by the Lumban police as attempted murder.

Footage from a closed-circuit television camera showed the PBA player getting off a motorcycle driven by his brother and firing a gun at Lee Cacalda in Barangay Maytalang 1.

Prior to the shooting, Amores and Cacalda figured in an altercation during a basketball game in Barangay Salac.

Cacalda was not hurt in the shooting.

A video aired over ABS-CBN showed John Anthony and John Red released from police custody yesterday after posting bail of P24,000 and P10,000, respectively. The brothers covered their faces with towels as they rushed to a vehicle.

Based on the results of a paraffin test, Amores was found negative for gunpowder nitrates.

Maj. Bob Luis Ordiz, Lumban police chief, said even if the result came out negative, they still have other pieces of evidence against Amores, including the CCTV footage and the testimonies of eyewitnesses.

Ordiz said there are factors that can cause a negative result in a paraffin test, such as wind and angle of firing.