6-year-old boy shot by neighbor while picking guavas from tree

MANILA, Philippines - A six-year-old boy is now in critical condition after a neighbor shot him while picking fruits from a guava tree in the latter’s residential compound in Angono, Rizal past noon on Monday.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Prieto, Rizal police director, has ordered a province-wide manhunt for Manuel Udasco, 25, who fled after shooting Licole Buragay in the head.

Buragay is now in critical condition at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

Prieto said Udasco was about to take a nap when he saw Buragay on a guava tree in his compound at Arvemar Subdivision. The boy’s family lives a few blocks away.

Udasco reportedly asked Buragay to go down the tree, but the boy ignored him.

Udasco then went inside his house, grabbed an undetermined firearm and shot the boy.

“Parang nagbabaril lang siya ng ibon (It was as if he was just shooting a bird),” a witness told police investigators.

Police are readying charges of frustrated homicide and child abuse against Udasco.