3 hurt after mall guard's gun goes off

CEBU, Philippines – A security guard wounded three persons when he accidentally fired his service firearm yesterday noon outside Elizabeth Mall along Sanciangko St., barangay Pahina Central, Cebu City.

Abraham Duran, 43, a resident of Danao City, and a member of the Unisave Security Specialist Agency, said he was trying to remove the magazine of his 9mm service pistol when it suddenly went off.

The bullet stuck the ground and Geraldine Consul and her 10-year-old son, David, both residents of Figueroa St., barangay Sawang Calero, who had just been about to enter the mall, were hit by shrapnel.

Geraldine was grazed in the left side of her body while David also suffered the same on his chest. Both were taken by Geraldine’s husband, John, to the Chong Hua Hospital.

Jason Keesey Lureñana, of Camella Homes, barangay Lawaan, Talisay City, who was standing nearby, was also grazed in the right arm and was taken to the mall’s clinic. 

Duran said he was about to have lunch and was shaking with hunger at the time and may have squeezed the trigger accidentally.  

Duran has been with the agency for five years already and has been assigned at E-Mall for two years now, usually manning the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift.

SPO4 Jay Yballe of Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office said that charges for reckless impudence resulting to physical injury will be filed against Duran who is now in the custody of the police.

Meanwhile, a businessman was shot by two unidentified men on a motorcycle last Sunday night along Gov. Cuenco Avenue, barangay Apas, Cebu City.

The victim was identified as Rey Lim Tagalogin, 38, a resident of Phase 8, Paseo Rodulfo, Maria Luisa Village, who is engaged in the exporting business.

Investigation showed that the victim was driving his white Isuzu D-max with plate number YBG-590 to the Ayala Center Cebu with his family around 9 p.m. when two men on board a blue motorcycle drove up close to the driver’s side.

The man riding pillion shot the victim twice, hitting the latter’s left arm and left side of the body, before the perpetrators sped off.

The victim’s wife, Carla, took over the wheel and took her husband to the Perpetual Soccour Hospital.

Chief Insp. Mario Monilar, chief of Homicide Section, said they are looking at a personal angle as the motive behind the incident.

The victim’s vehicle, which bore two bullet holes in the driver’s side window, was turned over to the Cebu City Police Office and subsequently to the PNP Crime Laboratory-7 for examination. — Niña G. Sumacot/BRP (THE FREEMAN)