Reynaldo Ortiz, student, of Phase 1, Package 1, Block 33, Lot 4, Bagong Silang, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds in the chest while his companions identified as Jun Rey Nuesca, 14, of 10-A, Viola street, Barangay St. Joseph, San Juan, and Jose Martel Santiaguel, 12, Ortiz’s neighbor, sustained minor injuries in different parts of their bodies.
Police said that at about 9 p.m. Friday, the victims were having a conversation at the terrace of Ortiz’s residence when a group of youngsters, armed with improvised shotguns (sumpak), fired at them.
Police said the attackers belonged to a rival group of teenagers, the notorious Salubong Tribe, known for their violent activities in the area.
Ortiz was hit in the chest by shrapnel from a 12-gauge shotgun bullet. The boy’s kin rushed him to the nearby Dr. Jose Rodriguez Hospital in Tala but attending physician Dr. Ruben Dejito declared him dead on arrival at about 9:15 p.m. Nuesca and Santiaguel, both students, were released from the hospital after they were treated of their injuries. – Pete Laude