Stray bullet kills girl; another fights for life

MANILA, Philippines - A stray bullet has claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl who was playing outside her home in Abra on New Year’s Eve, while a teenage girl is fighting for her life after being hit in the head by a bullet in Caloocan.

The latest incidents occurred two years after seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella died from a stray bullet that hit her during the New Year revelry.

Officials of the Cordillera Police Regional Office withheld the identity of the Grade 4 pupil in Abra province pending consent from the girl’s parents.

Police Superintendent Cherry Fajardo, spokesperson for the Cordillera PNP, told The STAR that the incident took place at around 12:20 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Bumagcat, Tayum town.

Quoting the victim’s father, Fajardo said the child was hit by a bullet while she was outside their home to welcome the new year.

The girl was playing with a friend when she suddenly fainted and fell to the ground.

“The father checked the girl and saw blood oozing from her ear. They immediately rushed the victim to the nearest hospital,” Fajardo added.

The girl reportedly died at around 3 a.m. yesterday.

Investigators said the bullet came from a .45 caliber pistol. Police are calling for witnesses to come forward and help give justice to the girl’s death.

Meanwhile, Maybelle Lou Juanitas, 13, was walking along a street in Tala, Caloocan City when a stray bullet hit the left side of her head an hour before the New Year.

Thinking the injury was caused by a rock thrown at them, Maybelle Lou’s cousins – who were with her at the time of the incident – brought her to her aunt’s home where she was staying during the holidays.

Elvira Suan, Maybelle Lou’s aunt, said they decided to bring the Grade 7 student to the nearby Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital (Tala Hospital) as she was experiencing nausea and vomiting.

Suan said doctors at the hospital stitched the wound as they believed the relatives’ claim that the injury was caused by a rock.

An x-ray performed on the victim, however, showed otherwise: a bullet was lodged in Maybelle Lou’s skull.

Upon the discovery, the victim was transferred to the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City around 7:30 a.m. yesterday.

The victim underwent various tests and preparations for possible surgery, said Alfonso Nuñez, head of the EAMC emergency department.

Nuñez said Maybelle Lou remains conscious, but they are treating the case as “critical” due to the nature of the injury.

No further details on the medical condition of the teenager were released yesterday afternoon, with the doctor noting that they are still doing preliminary tests on her.

Nuñez added they are consulting with experts on how best to proceed.

‘Not another Nicole’

Nuñez said they are hoping that the incident will not be similar to the case of seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole, who was also hit in the head by a stray bullet in Caloocan City in 2013.

Stephanie Nicole died at the EAMC on Jan. 2, 2013, after 38 hours.

Police have yet to arrest the suspect.

Jay Ella, father of Stephanie Nicole, said the death of Nicole changed their lives forever.

“A lot has changed. We no longer celebrate Christmas and New Year,” said Jay.

In an interview with The STAR yesterday, Maybelle Lou’s mother Mesa Juanitas said she hopes that her child will not suffer the same fate.

“I try to be strong for her, but deep inside I am hurting,” she said in Filipino, before breaking down in tears at the waiting area outside the emergency room of the EAMC.

Still shaken from the incident, Maybelle Lou’s father Johnny said he has no choice but to accept what happened to his child and hope for the best.

“I will just leave it to God,” he said.

The Juanitas family said they have reported the incident to the police, who are in constant coordination with them.

They allowed the media to release the name of the victim.

Mesa likewise allowed the release of her child’s photo, posted on the social networking site Facebook, when The STAR verified if it was indeed Maybelle Lou.

More stray bullet injuries

In Laguna, two children aged 10 and 12 were injured during the New Year celebration, bringing the total to six persons hit by stray bullets in Laguna and Batangas, police said.

The latest victims of stray bullets as of yesterday afternoon were identified as Mark Dennis Mata, 10, resident of Barangay Mayapa in Calamba City, Laguna; and Apple Giam Lim, 12, student of Fernando Air Base Elementary School in Lipa City, Batangas.

Both Lim and Mata are still confined in hospital.

Superintendent Fernando Ortega of Calamba City police said they had arrested a security guard who fired his gun during the New Year revelry while he was having a drinking session with friends around midnight.

He was identified as Antonio Dugan, 54, assigned at the Seaoil gasoline station in the area.

Charges of reckless imprudence resulting to physical injury will be filed against Dugan, Ortega said.

Batangas police director S/Supt. Jireh Omega Fidel meanwhile said Lim was strolling with his friend at their village’s basketball court when he was hit by a stray bullet at around 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

Another victim, identified as Isaac Gabriel Ruda, 10, was hit by a stray bullet while playing with his mother at their house in Barangay Bagong Silang in Lumban, Laguna last week.

In Pangasinan, three victims of stray bullets due to indiscriminate firing, including a four-year-old child, were recorded during the New Year revelry.

The victims were identified as Zeus Dizon, 4; Germelyn Joy Garcia, 32; and Liza Rosario, 41.

Dizon was playing in front of the barangay hall when an unidentified man riding a motorcycle reportedly fired his gun.

The boy was hit on his left foot.

Dizon was immediately brought to the Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital for medical treatment and is now in stable condition while the suspect fled.

Garcia meanwhile sustained injury on her upper lip and was brought to the Asingan Community Medicare Hospital for medical treatment. Recovered from the crime scene was one slug from a .9mm-caliber pistol.

According to the Philippine National Police (PNP), four cops, three security guards and three civilians were arrested for alleged indiscriminate firing during the holidays.

Two of the four policemen were from the National Capital Region (NCR), one each from Region IV-A and southern Mindanao.

The civilians and guards were arrested in Metro Manila and central Luzon.

The PNP National Operation Center monitoring indicated that of the 15 recorded cases of indiscriminate firing, five incidents were in Metro Manila, three in Calabarzon, two in western Mindanao, two in Central Luzon and one each in Ilocos region, Southern Mindanao and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Tourist welcomes new year with injury

A Taiwanese man was hit by a stray bullet in Pateros at midnight yesterday, while 16 others were rushed to the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH) for firecracker-related injuries.

According to the Southern Police District, Piao Lin, a tourist staying in Barangay Sto. Rosario, was outside his house to welcome the New Year when he suddenly felt pain in his right hand.

He was taken to the TPDH for emergency treatment.

The SPD said a slug recovered from the scene has been sent to the PNP Crime Laboratory for possible identification of the gun used.

Meanwhile, the EAMC in Quezon City recorded an increase in the number of stray bullet victims this year.

Victor Nuñez, head of EAMC emergency department, said four people who suffered gunshot wounds were brought to the hospital as of yesterday noon.

No such case was recorded at the EAMC during the New Year celebration last year. – With Mike Frialde, Ed Amoroso, Eva Visperas