Drive-by shootings ‘all scary hype’: Police blame media

Three people have already been killed and at least six others have been injured in two senseless drive-by shootings in the city that occurred less than two months of each other, but the Cebu City police believes the incidents have been unduly sensationalized by the media.

“We appeal to the public as a whole, and especially the media, not to sensationalize stories that would create undue panic to the public, ” said Cebu City police chief Sr. Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador yesterday.

Comendador especially asked media to refrain from projecting the city as dangerous and to refer to the drive-by shootings or fraternity or gang-related violence as simple shooting incidents.

Comendador told reporters the shooting incident in barangay Tisa last week that injured two students as they were sitting by the roadside with a group of friends was motivated by revenge.

The police official explained that it does not mean that when a person is on board a vehicle and shoots somebody, it automatically is a drive-by shootings the latter usually does not have any motive and no particular target, that the perpetrators are only out for a deadly thrill.

Comendador said his investigation showed that the night before the shooting, there had been some trouble between two rival fraternities in the area.

He, however, admitted that they failed to ascertain if the two shooting victims were members of either group.

Unidentified men on a white Multicab without plates opened fire at the victims, hitting 23-year-old Giovanni Navarro in the back and legs and his 17-year-old cousing on the thighs.

The attackers covered their faces with small branches of trees with leaves to conceal their identities, said witnesses. After the shooting, the attackers fleed toward Labangon.

Comendador said Tisa is an area considered as a hangout of fraternities and gangs.

He warned parents against letting their children stay outdoors in areas known to be teeming with gang or frat members.

According to Comendador, fraternities and gang members who attack rival neighborhoods do not care if they hit innocent people because usually their attacks are meant to send the message to their enemies that they are now safe in their own turfs.

“ These groups are territorial. They want to establish the fact that even in the territory of their rivals they can make them feel unsafe.

Last October 5, three people were killed and four others were injured in a ten-minute drive-by shooting spree carried out by two men on a motorcycle.

Police have filed charges against the suspected gunman, Aristotle “Aries” Aves, even if he remains at large.

The shootings started along V. Gullas Street when the two men on the motorcycle shot a student waiting for a ride home. The student survived with a gunshot wound on the neck.

The attackers then overtook Lawrence Morados who was on another motorcycle, shooting and killing him.

They then turned right into D. Jakosalem where, seeing several employees of this paper smoking outside the building, opened fire at them. None of the Freeman employees got hit, but the building bore the bullet holes from the shooting.

The gunmen then turned left into Sanciangko and shot at a group of students, injuring one of them.

Further uptown, they came upon a group of three men walking and opened fire. William John Aznar and Lord Stephen Vasquez were killed while another companion got hurt.

In their final senseless act, they saw another man on a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction and shot him as well. The man, however, survived.

Aves, who has now a P300,000 reward for his capture, is said to be a member of the Alpha Kappa Rho fraternity but leaders of the group reportedly no longer recognize him as their member for defying organizational orders.

Two other shooting incidents that resulted in the death of two people and injuries to five others in late September were either also fraternity-related or drive-by shootings even if the actual victims were considered non-gang or frat members but innocent bystanders.

But in spite of these, Comendador wants the public to feel safe and assured that Cebu is still safe for the public.

The police said they have actually recorded a sudden drop in shooting incidents this year compared to last year and most of them have already been solved. Comendador explained that crimes are proportionate in every progressive city.

Last Thursday, the city police met with education officials on the importance of organizing activities and empowering academic clubs to help students steer clear of gangs or fraternities.

School campuses will also be included in police patrols, Comendador said. (/JST)