BACNOTAN, La Union – A two-year-old girl was killed while her father was seriously wounded when they were shot by motorcycle-riding men here yesterday morning.
The caliber .45 bullet that hit Ferdinand Buen, 41, exited through his shoulder and struck his daughter, Edna Francise, in the head.
The girl was declared dead on arrival at a private hospital in San Fernando City.
Superintendent Pedro Obaldo, La Union deputy police director, told The STAR that father and daughter were on their way to her school at around 8 a.m. on board a tricycle when the gunmen struck.
“The real target was the father but they failed and the innocent girl became the victim. I am encouraging (the gunmen) to surrender and help bring justice to the girl by telling the truth and (revealing) the mastermind,” Obaldo said, adding that the attackers could be guns-for-hire.
Witnesses said the triggerman and the motorcycle driver were both wearing ski masks.
Probers were still clueless on the possible motive, but Buen’s wife, Editha, said her husband, a former overseas contract worker, recently got threats from a local official for a supposed wrongdoing which he (Buen) had denied having committed.