Two hurt, one dead in shooting incidents

CEBU, Philippines - A call center agent was injured after he was shot, for unknown reason, by an unidentified man past 3 a.m. yesterday in Gil Tudtud Street, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

Jean Paul Consuji, 27, single, call center agent of Western Watch, and a resident of the place, told the police that when he and his brother Dexter John arrived home, they saw the assailant standing, while tinkering with his mobile phone, near the gate of their house.

They then asked him who he was looking for, to which the man replied that he was looking for his girlfriend.

Then, their friend Ludwig Arenasa, came driving a motorcycle on which the victim embarked on and left to buy beer. Upon their return, Arenasa left again, but this time with the suspect riding in pillion.

The victim and his brother were drinking the beer in front of the gate when the suspect came back and pointed a gun at them, instructing them: “Ibutang na inyong cellphone (Put down your cellphone),” to which the victim replied, “Ngano man diay? Unsa may imong problema? (Why? You got any problem?)”

The gunman then proceeded to shoot him but the weapon misfired. He continued squeezing the trigger until it went off again before he fled on foot.

The victim, on the other hand, was taken to the Chong Hua Hospital after he was hit in the left arm. The bullet went through his left torso.

In another shooting incident, a 31-year-old man was killed while his companion got injured after they were shot the other night in barangay Langtad, Naga town.

The fatality was identified as Reynaldo Baricuatro while his companion who got wounded on the left thigh was identified as Reyñer Bastismo, 19. Both are residents of V. Rama, Langtad while the assailant was identified as Francisco Torion, 25, a resident of barangay Bairan, also of the said town.

Personal grudge was the motive of the crime. — Niña G. Sumacot and Gabriel C. Bonjoc/MEEV