Toughies shoot up grandma's wake

A 17-year-old girl was killed and her two teenage cousins injured when a group of neighborhood toughies shot at guests and relatives at the wake of the victims’ grandmother in Quezon City Thursday night.

Silver An Dinzay was declared dead on arrival at the Malvar General Hospital due to a gunshot wound in her chest.

Her cousins, Sherilyn Candelario and Jennifer Belleza, both 16 years old, each suffered a gunshot in the torso. Both are confined at the East Avenue Medical Center.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Joycelyn Marcelo said the incident happened at around 10:30 p.m. as the three victims were playing cards at the wake of their grandmother in Barangay Holy Spirit.

Marcelo said suspects Jayson Castaneda, Frederick Chavez, Raymond Sagun, Efren Ranilo and three other young men identified only as Jerome, Omar and Atan suddenly arrived at the wake and for no apparent reason, started throwing stones at the people there. Chavez reportedly said they would shoot anyone at the wake.

The victims were trying to keep the plastic chairs, which they only borrowed, from being damaged during the attack when Chavez, Sagun, Jerome and Omar started firing their improvised shotguns. They reloaded when they ran out of ammunition, then started shooting again. The suspects left the scene only when other people attending the wake threw stones at them.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Dinzay’s father, Edgar, still could not believe his daughter had died. Edgar said Silver An was an honor student at the Lagro High School in Quezon City and had always wanted to be a flight attendant.

Edgar, who was with the victims as they tried to collect the chairs during the attack, said he felt the bullets that hit his daughter pass by him.

Castaneda and Ranilo were arrested during follow-up operations while the other five suspects remain at large. Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry Abad said Chavez and Sagun both have standing arrest warrants for robbery and homicide.