Trader shot after drunken brawl in Ermita

CEBU, Philippines - A Filipino-Chinese trader, who earlier figured in a brawl with another man, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant around 11:30 p.m. yesterday in barangay Ermita, Cebu City.

Ruel Hingonia Lee, 37, of Sun Valley Subdivision, V. Rama Avenue, barangay Calamba landed in the hospital after being shot at the corner of El Filibustirismo and Magallanes streets, Ermita.

Investigation showed that the victim was with two other friends looking for their friend Ramon Sy when they saw him drinking with a certain Primo Sangcap and joined them.

PO2 Lou Pagara of Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section said that the victim and his companions, were all already drunk when Sangcap and Sy offered Lee a glass of liquor but Lee suddenly threw it away.

The sound of breaking glass awoke Eleuterio Rivera, a brother-in-law of Sangcap, who admo-nished them for the noise.

Rivera allegedly told his nephew to call the barangay tanods which upset Lee. The two them got into an argument and then a fistfight.

Some bystanders then mobbed the group of the victim which prompted Lee, Sy and their two other friends to flee. The bystanders chased them and upon reaching the place, two gunshots were heard and the victim was shot in the back.

The victim was then taken to the Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.

Pagara said they were able to talk with Lee at the hospital and he said that Sangcap and Rivera were not among those who chased them.

The police investigator said they will invite Sangcap and Rivera for questioning and submit them to a paraffin test.

Meanwhile, another shooting incident ha-ppened along Mindanao Ave., barangay Luz, past 2 a.m. wherein Junrey Bontilao, 18, a member of a certain gang called the Cebuano Real Gangsters was shot by two unidentified men on a motorcycle.

The victim told police that he was with his friends walking on their way home when they saw the approaching assailants who opened fire at them several times without any warning.

They allegedly scampered for safety but later he realized he had been shot in the right portion of his back.

The assailants then fled while he was taken to the Cebu City Medical Center.

Police are eyeing fraternity-related grudge as a motive behind the incident. – Niña G. Sumacot/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)