1 dead, 2 hurt in shooting rampage

A jeepney driver was killed while two others were wounded when a group of drunk men went on a shooting rampage Sunday night in Caloocan City.

Police identified the fatality as Rodrigo Bando, 52, driver, and resident of Barangay 186, Tala, Caloocan City North.

In critical condition at the Tala Hospital are Edwin Balverde, 35, and Pedrito Rapales, 46, both residents of Administration Site, Barangay 186, also in Tala.

Chief Inspector Danilo Aboga Cajipe, Substation 5 (SS-5) chief, said before the incident, five men and one woman were having a drinking spree in front of a house on Saint Joseph Avenue corner Saint Maryann street in Administration Site, Barangay 186.

At around 6:45 p.m., the drinking buddies, armed with handguns, started firing their weapons in the air.

The group then went out into the street and passed Balverde, a vacationing seafarer, who was sitting in front of his sari-sari store.

The suspects fired at Balverde for no apparent reason, hitting the victim in the head and in the body.

Rapales, who just arrived after reporting the incident to the barangay hall, was also shot by the suspects as he alighted from his Isuzu Crosswind.

Rapales sustained a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

Bando, driving a passenger jeepney, was hit by a stray bullet in the chest.

He died on the spot

The suspects fled on board a maroon Mitsubishi Lancer (NCS-195), police said.

SPO1 Dicoroso Domingo said that they recovered from the crime scene five empty shells and a slug from a caliber .45 pistol and two empty shells from a caliber .38 revolver.

Northern Police District (NPD) director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil ordered a manhunt against the suspects.

He also dispatched the highly trained NPD-Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to augment the undermanned Caloocan police force and help them in the hunt.