Four men gunned down in city within 8 hours

Four people were gunned down in separate places in the city within eight hours, from 9:30 p.m. Thursday to 5:30 a.m. yesterday.

The first victim in the bloody eight-hour span was 41-year-old Gerardo Cuerda, a security guard of GDS Agency detailed to a restaurant along General Maxilom Avenue in barangay Zapatera.

Cuerda, was standing at the front door of the restaurant while waiting for his relief guard, Wilson Prospero, who was still in the dressing room at the time.

Witnesses told the police that one of two men, wearing helmets and riding a red Honda Dream motorcycle, arrived and stopped in front of Cuerda.

The backrider, wearing denim jeans and jacket, approached and shot Cuerda thrice in the head and twice in the chest before going back to the motorcycle. The guard died on the spot while the attackers quickly sped away to barangay Carreta.

Police found from the crime scene five shells of .45 caliber bullets and Cuerda's .38 caliber service revolver and wallet.

Homicide investigator SPO2 Rey Cuyos said it was the first time the guard was assigned to the restaurant after his previous post in Banilad.

Homicide chief, Inspector Mario Monilar, told reporters that revenge might be the motive in the killing, based on fellow guard Prospero's revelation that the victim had confessed of shooting a man in the past.

City Police director, Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador also said they are verifying also the report that the victim was the brother of Henry Cuerda, the suspect in the P9.4-million robbery of Land Bank-Bogo in 2005.

At 11:20 p.m. Thursday, one of two laborers from Carbon Market died after they were shot at while pushing their cart along the corner of F. Gonzales and Lincoln streets in barangay San Roque.

Police said the victims were Junjun "alias Florante" Jumao-as and his 16-year-old companion. Jumao-as was hit in the head and chest, and he never made it to the hospital alive.

His juvenile companion, who was hit in the left foot, told investigators that they were on their way home when he heard bursts of gunfire that prompted him to run for cover. He said he did not see who opened fire at them.

By 1 a.m. yesterday or about four hours after the first killing, 17-year-old farmer Junrey Ardines was shot dead at sitio Bomba in Lusaran, a mountain barangay.

Investigators said Ardines and his friend, on their way to barangay Cambinocot to sleep, passed by the store of the victim's aunt, Shirley Arconada, where two men were drinking liquor at the time.

Ardines and his friend decided to approach the unidentified men, and he conversed with them about cases of indiscriminate firing of guns in their area that made the people there unhappy.

The fourth killing took place at sitio Cabatbatan in barangay Pamutan at around 5 a.m. yesterday. A 50-year-old farmer, Patricio Ibonalo, was found dead near where he regularly made charcoal.

Patricio was shot thrice in the head, four times in the chest, and more in his leg and forearm. His brother Serafin, a tanod, told the police that he first heard Patricio shouting for help. Serafin however arrived at the scene late because the victim was already dead.

Serafin told investigators that Patricio had several enemies in the barangay, and there was even a time when he was forced to transfer to Candulawan, Talisay City where he got into trouble and got hacked as a result. Patricio returned to Pamutan only last October 30.

Police found five shells of .30 caliber bullets, and they believed that the motive of the killing, based on stories from other residents, might be personal grudge. - Edwin Ian Melecio