Boy, 14, shoots brother dead over text prank

CEBU, Philippines - Infuriated that he was made fun of, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed his elder brother in Barangay Poblacion, Tabogon town last Friday noon.

The 16-year-old victim died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Police said the victim was eating lunch alone inside their shanty around 12:30 p.m. when the minor suspect approached and shot him.

PO1 Dario Sta. Teresa of Tabogon Police Station said the siblings, who are out-of-school youths, worked as helpers at a nearby automotive repair shop.

The two each owned a cellular phone which they bought from their earnings.

A few days ago, Sta. Teresa said someone, who introduced herself as a girl, contacted the suspect, and they became textmates.

Later, the two agreed to have an “eyeball” or meeting, wherein she did not show up. The same thing happened on the second and third occasions they agreed to meet.

The boy went home and found his elder brother laughing at him.

“Magsige man daw ug katawa niya nga gi-indian na sad daw lagi siya,” the police officer said.

He also learned that his brother spread the story to his neighbors, which made him very embarrassed.

“Naglagot gyud siya,” Sta. Teresa said.

The suspect eventually found out last Thursday that it was only his brother posing as his textmate and they had a fistfight.

Last Friday as the victim took his lunch the suspect took the gun and shot the victim in the left side of his head with the bullet exiting from his right temple.

The gun, an unlicensed .38 cal. revolver, was allegedly owned by the victim. The boy told the police that his brother bought the gun in Danao City for self-defense as there are several toughies in their place.

Sta. Teresa further said that the victim would also fire the gun to scare their father whenever he was drunk.

The siblings’ jobless parents, who were around during the incident, rushed the victim to a hospital in Sogod town with the help of the town’s ambulance.

However, the doctor pronounced the victim dead on arrival.

Sta. Teresa said the suspect, who was still holding the gun, ran away and hid in their hut in a mountainous some distance away.

However, the police caught up with him and he did not resist arrest. The police were able to recover the gun used in the crime.

The police took the boy into custody as the family, scared of what he had done, would not let him go back. There are seven children in the family and the victim and the suspect are the second and third eldest children, respectively.

“Sige lang daw sila’g away, unya malditohon gyud daw ‘nang manghod,” Sta. Teresa said, adding that the suspect also threw rocks at a used clothing vendor in their place last Tuesday.   - (THE FREEMAN)