1 killed, 2 wounded in Navotas shooting spree

A fisherman was killed while two bystanders were critically wounded when two drunk men, armed with handguns, fired indiscrimately at a neighborhood in Navotas on Saturday.

Federico Lusterio, 50, a resident of 340 R. Domingo st., Barangay Tangos, Navotas, sustained two gunshot wounds in the chest and other parts of the body and was declared dead on arrival at the Tondo Medical Center.

Lusterio’s relatives, Sanita de la Cruz, 65, and Nenita Adriano, 25, Sanita’s daughter, were hit by stray bullets in different parts of the body and were also brought to the same hospital.

PO3 Cesario Naturaliza Jr. said that around 5:30 p.m., the suspects, identified as Rommel Baltazar and Ernesto Rabajanto, both of A. Cruz st., also in Barangay Tangos, passed by the victims’ residence and approached Lusterio, who was selling barbecue on the road side and asked for a certain Aling Floring, reportedly a fishing boat owner.

While the victim was talking to the suspects, witnesses overheard Baltazar as saying: "Pare, mainit ang ulo ko, gusto kong mamaril (Man, I’m in a bad mood, I want to shoot somebody)." At this juncture, the suspects reportedly pulled handguns and repeatedly fired at Lusterio, killing him on the spot.

The suspects also fired shots indiscriminately at the neighborhood while fleeing resulting in the injuries of Lusterio’s two relatives. — Pete Laude