2 shot dead by armed youths in Caloocan

Two young men walking towards a neighborhood eatery were shot dead by armed youths shortly after midnight yesterday in Caloocan City. Two others were injured in the incident.

Killed were Frenze Bryan Pichay, 15, a high school student; and Carlo Tajuna, 21. The two who were injured were identified as Ray Floyd Turla and Nathaniel Dionisio, both 15 years old and high school students.

PO3 Alberto Eustaquio, officer-on-case, said the shooting ocurred at around 12:30 a.m. yesterday.

Witness Jane Bordeos told probers that victims were walking towards an eatery along F. Roxas St. corner Katipunan St., 2nd Avenue, Barangay 42 Caloocan City when an armed youth group alighted from a passenger jeepney and, without provocation, started firing at the victims.

Pichay was hit in the back and Turla on the left shoulder. Dionisio was lucky to get away with only a gunshot wound in the right thumb.

The suspects allegedly fled on board the passengery jeepney towards the Manila-Caloocan City highway border.

The victims were brought to the President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center on Mabini St. for treatment.

Pichay succumbed to a gunshot wound in the back while undergoing treatment while Turla was transferred to the National Orthopedic Hospital in Quezon City for broken bones in the shoulder caused by a bullet.

Tajuna was found sprawled on the ground where the others fell by elements of a responding team from the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 7.

The cops brought Tajuna to the Ospital ng Tondo along Jose Abad Santos Avenue in Manila but was declared dead on arrival. He succumbed to gunshot wounds in the left side of the body and the chest.

The police have yet to establish the motive for the shooting. – With Pete Laude