Hospital guard shoots boy dead

CEBU CITY — A hospital security guard fired shots at a fleeing suspected snatcher who had stabbed him in the chest, but instead hit a boy minding a store here the other day.

Eight-year-old Flor Anthony Tugaon was minding a vegetable stall on B. Rodriguez street fronting the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center with his elder brother Kevin when suspected snatcher Antonio Encierto came running, chased by security guard Avelino Mahusay.

Encierto hid behind the two boys already terrified by four earlier warning shots fired by Mahusay.

Refusing to heed warnings from bystanders not to fire because of people around, the visibly enraged Mahusay fired two shots in the direction of the cowering Encierto, but one of the bullets from his caliber .38 revolver hit Flor Anthony instead.

The boy crumpled to the sidewalk pavement, the errant bullet lodged in his brain.

Alex Baclayon, a pastor who witnessed the incident, told reporters Mahusay was just two meters from Encierto when he fired the shots.

Regaining composure from what had happened, Kevin said that after Flor Anthony got hit, Mahusay made no attempt to seek medical attention for his fallen brother and instead fought and grappled with Encierto for possession of a knife he had been carrying.

Kevin said his younger brother had been on his lap and continued to hug him after he was hit and their mother arrived. It was only then that the boy was rushed to the hospital, but the severity of his head wound made it virtually impossible for him to survive.

The incident started with an altercation between Mahusay and Encierto at the hospital’s Gate 2 at about 9:30 a.m.

According to Encierto, he politely asked Mahusay, who was guarding the gate, to be allowed to go inside the hospital to use one of its toilets but the guard allegedly shoved him away.

Encierto left in a huff and went to see a friend in Carbon from whom he borrowed a knife. Thus armed, he went back to the hospital gate where Mahusay was busy checking on visitors and stabbed the guard in the chest without warning.

Despite being wounded, Mahusay managed to mount a chase and caught up with Encierto as he sought cover behind the two brothers.

After Flor Anthony fell with a bullet wound in his head, bystanders later broke up the ensuing fight for the knife between Mahusay and Encierto and ganged up on the latter, beating him up and holding him immobile until policemen arrived.

Encierto has been in jail twice for possessing prohibited weapons and was released only last May 27 after his second offense.

Police are now preparing charges against both Mahusay, who is now being treated for his stab wound, and Encierto. — Freeman News Service