1 dead, 3 hurt in shooting spree

DUENAS, ILOILO, Philippines  — Tragedy greeted the opening of a 2-week food festival in this town Saturday evening, claiming the life of one man and injuring three others.

Julius Lamsog, 26, of Brgy. Sawe, Dueñas, succumbed to five bullet injuries on his body. He was declared dead on arrival at Don Valerio Palmares Memorial District Hospital in Passi City.

Wounded were Raul Causing, Rolando Jerosalen, 35, also of Dueñas town; and Sheila Lama, 24, of Brgy. Batuan. They were seated near Lamsog when the incident happened.

Causing suffered a graze wound on his knee and was released from hospital confinement. Jerosalen and Lama, on the other hand, were referred to Iloilo Provincial Hospital for further treatment.

Chief Insp. Frederick Dequito, Dueñas Police chief, said Lamsog was drunk at the time. “But he was not unruly. There was no argument prior to that. Siguro, na tripping-an lang gid siya kay basi hubog man ang suspek,” he said.

Dequito said that witnesses could identify the gunman and his companion through faces only. “Their identities are yet to be known,” he said lamenting that most of those who saw the incident could hardly give useful information about what happened.

After the burst of gun fire, the suspects join hundreds of food festival customers, who scampered for their safety. As such, despite that patrolling policemen were just 20 meters form the crime scene, they failed to catch the two gun-wielding suspects. A ballistic examination will be conducted on five empty shells and a slug recovered from the crime scene.

Despite what happened, Dequito said that food festival will continue until Dueñas’s annual fiesta celebration on September 30. (FREEMAN)