Girl hit by stray bullet dies

MANILA, Philippines - Seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella fought hard for her life, but after she went into cardiac arrest for the eighth time yesterday, her family decided it was time to let go.

Ella’s death at 2:26 p.m. at the East Avenue Medical Center made her the second fatality from a stray bullet during the New Year’s celebrations.

Health officials said the number of injuries from firecrackers and stray bullets from Dec. 21 until New Year’s Eve rose to 697 yesterday – still lower by 29 percent than last year’s 984.

A 16-year-old boy hit by a stray bullet in Surigao City remained in a coma and was transferred to Butuan City yesterday.

A toddler was also hit by a stray bullet while watching the fireworks display even as a businessman was arrested for firing his gun in separate incidents in Quezon City.

Ella was watching a fireworks display with her father Jay near their home in Caloocan City on New Year’s Eve when she collapsed. A bullet had struck the top of her head and lodged behind her left eye.

A four-year-old boy, Ranjelo Nimer, was the first fatality from gunfire during the revelry. He was also watching a fireworks display near his home in Mandaluyong City when he was hit in the back by bullets from a homemade shotgun.

A neighbor of the boy, Emmanuel Janabon, has been arrested for the killing. Neighbors said they saw Janabon firing the gun into the air, but he claimed the weapon accidentally went off.

Janabon did not resist arrest when collared by police at his home in Welfareville Compound, Barangay Addition Hills. He yielded an improvised shotgun and steel pipe. He admitted shooting Ranjelo but claimed it was an accident.

However, Health Assistant Secretary Enrique Tayag said Ranjelo’s case was a crime and is not included in the DOH registry.

“He was not included in our registry because his case does not fall in our category of ‘stray bullet.’ In the first place, the boy was not hit by stray bullets. And in fact, the gunman was even identified,” Tayag said.

The DOH defined “stray bullets” as those coming from unknown sources during the registry period from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5, and those fired during the New Year celebration.

Tayag said that Ranjelo succumbed to four gunshot wounds in the head and body.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is still looking for the person responsible for Ella’s death. PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima has promised to personally monitor the progress of the investigation.

Purisima has called on the public to help them identify the people who fired guns during the New Year revelry to be able to give justice to the victims.

“Whoever did this to my granddaughter, perhaps you’re happy now,” the girl’s grandfather Aquilino Ella said. “You’re the cause of Nicole’s suffering.”

Other relatives of the girl declined to be interviewed. Emmanuel Bueno, head of the hospital’s emergency room, said the family decided to stop reviving the girl after her eighth cardiac arrest.

“They didn’t want her to suffer,” Bueno said, noting that Ella’s heart first stopped beating at around 5 a.m. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Pete Laude, Aurea Calica, Jerry Botial, Ben Serrano, John Unson, Jack Castaño, Reinir Padua