Dressmaker shot while playing peacemaker over unpaid debt

A 56-year-old lady sewer was shot in the stomach while trying to pacify her husband and friends from fighting over an unpaid debt in Tondo, Manila Thursday night. Jesusa Bernabe is now confined at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRMMC) after sustaining a gunshot wound in the right side of the stomach.

Police are hunting down suspects Lito Macaranas, 29, and his brothers Jimmy Macaranas, 32, Boy, and Jon; and cousin Joey Paed, all of 518 Nicodemus St., Tondo. They escaped after the incident which took place at about 10 p.m., in front of the victim’s house at 832 Nicodemus St., Dagupan, Tondo, Manila.

Initial investigation showed the shooting stemmed from an argument between Bernabe’s husband Felimon and Lito over an unpaid debt. The argument attracted the attention of Macaranas’ relatives and escalated into a fistfight, prompting Bernabe to intervene. But as the victim tried to pacify the men, Lito pulled out a gun of unknown-caliber fired a shot, hitting the victim in the right side of the stomach.

Bystanders who saw the incident rushed the victim to the JRMMC, where attending doctors placed her under observation. – Cecille Suerte Felipe