A 14-year-old boy was killed and a man was wounded in a shooting incident at the corner of F. Gonzales and Lincoln Streets in Carbon Market of barangay Ermita yesterday. Barangay tanods of Ermita were allegedly involved in the shooting.
The area was busy with vendors when people in black uniforms reportedly fired their guns indiscriminately at the man, Wilson “Willy” Bagol, they were chasing.
Bagol, 27, a fruit vendor and a resident of Tres de Abril in barangay Labangon, was hit in the left thigh. Homicide investigators said the three men, believed to be Ermita tanods, were seen firing guns at the fleeing Bagol who was said to be drunk and creating trouble in the area.
A bullet however hit 14-year-old Junard Cortes Anter, a resident of sitio Viking in barangay Alaska, Mambaling. He was hit in the chest near his heart, and responding policemen rushed him to the Cebu City Medical Center where he died few minutes later.
Junard was was with his father, Ananias, and they were waiting for their cargo to be loaded into a truck when shots rang out.
SPO2 Rey Cuyos, of the Homicide Section, said that shortly after the gunfire the boy told his father that he was hit. Ananias told The FREEMAN that they were unable to take cover, and he was surprised when his son embraced him tightly and murmured he was hit.
He then noticed his son already losing consciousness, and when he saw a small hole on the left side of his son’s chest, he quickly shouted for help.
Ananias, who has five more children, said he and Junard (his third son) had been driving traysikad everyday in the Carbon market.
“Nagpaabot ra mi nga makarga among mga kargamento sa trak nga dad-on sa Bogo; nakadungog mi og buto-buto unya ang akong anak kalit lang nga nigakos nako og hugot sa atubangan kay naigo kuno kuno siya, pagtan-aw nako sa iyang dughan may buslot man,” the teary-eyed father narrated that fateful moment yesterday, which was incidentally a Father’s Day, seeing his son died in his arms.
Ananias said he saw the three men, in dark sweatshirts with “Police” markings at the back, with their guns drawn. He believed then that they were tanods of Ermita, and was later told that the tanods were responding to an alarm in the area, and chasing Bagol.
Ananias said he asked for help from one of those “tanods” who was still carrying a gun but this man did not listen to him and just walked away. He described this “tanod” as a very big man, dark skinned, and sporting a short haircut.
The police brought Ananias to Ermita barangay hall yesterday afternoon after barangay captain Felicisimo Rupinta offered to have his men lined-up for identification. But Rupinta was not yet around, prompting the police to continue with the line-up with only 16 out of 20 tanods present.
Ananias identified from one of them, Alvin Mahilum, as the man who reportedly fit the description of the “tanod” who refused to help the victim’s father.
But when Rupinta arrived, Ananias retracted his earlier identification of Mahilum. Rupinta explained to him that it was not Mahilum he saw because the tanod was ill and was not on duty at the time. Ananias later apologized to Mahilum at Rupinta’s office in front of the media and homicide investigators.
“Ang Homicide Section ug ang atong barangay magtinabangay nga makuha ning tawhana, 80 porsiyento gyud ko nga madakpan namo siya,” Rupinta said, explaining that his tanods only responded after they received a call about three men, armed with knives and “pinote,” who robbed a store in the area.
Rupinta said that Bagol was one of those robbers but he did not elaborate on the matter pertaining to who shot Bagol. He only said that those wearing uniforms with “Police” mark on them are not only his tanods but also those anti-crime volunteers or members of the Barangay Intelligence Network.
The barangay captain denied that one of his tanods shot and killed the boy. Mahilum, for his part, earlier said he knew somebody that has the same description like him and he was just mistakenly identified.
Mahilum said he understood the feeling of Ananias for losing a son but he insisted that he was in his house due to heart ailment and was taking medicine at the time of the shooting. He was not even issued yet with a uniform similar to the one that Ananias described.
Other tanods present in the lineup also defended Mahilum by saying that he was never been in the area then, and was wrongfully identified. — Edwin Ian Melecio with Guamittos P. Logroño, Banat correspondent/RAE