September 27, 2007 | 12:00am
A young woman engaged in girlish banter with a friend in front of the latter’s house was killed after an off-duty waiter fired his gun indiscriminately late Tuesday night in Caloocan City.
Chief Inspector Jose Valencia, city police investigation chief, identified the victim as Kimberly Paleracio, 16, of 57 Everlasting St., Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City. Paleracio succumbed to a lone gunshot wound in the abdomen. Suspect Lester Francisco alias “Ponga,” 22, a resident of 120 Demokrasya St. in Barangay 149, Bagong Barrio, fled with the weapon, a handgun of undetermined caliber, shortly after the incident and remains at large. According to the police, Paleracio and an unnamed friend were conversing in front of the latter’s house at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when the shooting occurred.
Officer-on-case PO2 Ferdinand Naval said the victim sustained a bullet wound in the abdomen and died while being rushed for treatment at the Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital. Naval said the victim, also a resident of Bagong Barrio, was talking with her friends in front of the suspect’s house at around 9:30 p.m. when reportedly fired upon by the suspect without provocation. The suspect just came out of his house and fired a single shot at the group of youngsters hitting Palarecio in the left side of her abdomen, Naval said. The victim was brought to the MCU Hospital by two of her friends, Erwin Garcia and John Paul Sonza, but was declared dead on arrival by Dr. Ernesto Gonzales. – Jerry Botial, Pete Laude
