Drive-by killers slay 3, injure 4
Killings in
Late Thursday night, two men on a motorcycle went on a deadly kind of “ joy ride “ through the streets of Cebu City, shooting everyone that caught their hellish fancy in a ten-minute orgy of mayhem that begun in the downtown area at V. Gullas Street and ended three kilometers away at Ascencion Street in uptown.
When the shooting rampage was over, three men lay dead and four others were injured.
One of the fatalities was a member of the influential Aznar family.
Freeman employees hanging around in front of their new building on V. Gullas corner D. Jakosalem were shot at by the madmen as they drove by after shooting their first two victims. None of this paper’s employees were hit but a bullet caused a hole in the concrete facade of the building.
The drive-by killings alarmed the city government, which immediately scheduled a meeting with police and barangay officials to discuss the new and terrifying problem, as well as the surging fraternity/gang-related violence that law enforcers appear to have failed to address.
The shootings coincided with the anniversary of Tau Gamma, a fraternity/gang locked in a seeming war of attrition with the rival Alpha Kappa Rho. Police homicide investigator SPO4 Jay Yballe said it was still too early to say if the rampage had anything to do with the frat/gang wars but admitted that is where the investigation is currently focused.
Both frat/gangs have a history of engaging in violence during their anniversaries but these were usually directed against members of their rival frat/gangs. Nothing of the sort was quite like Thursday night when the victims simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The three people killed were Lawrence Morados, 32, of
The four injured were Mhako Buenconsejo, 18, of Canduman,
Yballe said the shooting rampage began at around
As Buenconsejo crumpled to the ground with a bullet wound in the back, the gunmen continued down V. Gullas and overtook Morados who was on his own motorbike. The gunmen shot Morados several times, killing him. As the killers turned right into D. Jakosalem, they saw several Freeman employees sitting on the steps of the building and fired, missing them by inches.
The gunmen then sped toward Sanciangko where they came upon a group of students hanging about. They fired at the group as they passed by, hitting Romano on the thigh and foot. The others managed to scamper away to safety.
A few minutes later, as they reached
Both Vasquez and Aznar were killed in the hail of bullets. Pellerin suffered gunshot wounds in the chest and is fighting for his life at the nearby
As the gunmen sped away, they again overtook another motorbike rider, Gonzales, and fired, hitting him on the arms.
The killers then lost themselves in late night traffic on
From empty shells recovered at the various sites where victims of the rampage fell, police learned that the killers were armed with .45 caliber pistols.
At City Hall, Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who is acting mayor in the absence of Mayor Tomas Osmena who is abroad, has called for a meeting with the heads of all police stations and barangay officials of the city.
Rama said the police should exhaust all means to track the perpetrators of the heinous crime and said there is a need for more police visibility and the mobilization of barangay tanods to monitor frat/gangs in their areas. Comendador said the police cannot watch over the entire city at all times and advised the public to be more cautious. ( Edwin Ian Melecio, Ramil Ayuman, Wenna Berondo/JST )
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