4 hurt in shooting incident in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY —  Four men were injured when a still unidentified gunman them following a heated street argument in this city late night Sunday, police said Monday.

Senior Insp. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol Police Regional Office spokesperson, identified the victims as construction workers Eric Guinitaran, 29, and Rusell Buendia, 29; delivery boy Raul Rivera, 29, and Mack Toby Barela, 22.

They suffered bullet wounds in the thighs and legs. They were treated at the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital.

The incident happened at around 10:30 p.m. at the Resettlement Site, Purok 4 in Barangay Dap-Dap.

Buendia said he went out to buy liquor as he was celebrating his birthday when they came across another man.

“He was drunk and so was I when we chanced upon them in the street. We had an argument, and when we parted ways, without knowing it he shot us,” Guinitaran said.

He added that he believed the suspect was a sharpshooter and had “no intention to kill us since all of us sustained bullet wounds in the lower extremities.”

The suspect fled after the incident.

“We have already persons of interest, but the victims should be able to identify them so we could file charges against the perpetrators,” Supt. Nilo Berdin, chief of the Legazpi City Police Station, said. /atm