1 hurt in Caloocan shootout

MANILA, Philippines - A pedicab driver was hit in the head by stray bullets when village watchmen shot it out with a group of suspected gangsters in Caloocan City at past midnight yesterday.

Mark Gil Ferciano, 22, suffered two gunshot wounds in the head and is confined at the President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center.

At around 12:15 a.m., watchmen of Barangay 20 responded to a fight along Talakitok street and chased a group of alleged gangsters who fled toward the unlighted Tamban street in Barangay 18.

But before the watchmen could catch up, the suspects threw stones at them. As the watchmen and the alleged gangsters shot at each other, stray bullets hit Ferciano.

The victim’s kin, accompanied by the Special Weapons and Tactics team from the Northern Police District, went to the barangay hall to confront the watchmen of Barangay 20. No one was arrested.