CEBU CITY—A nine-year-old boy was killed Wednesday while his parents were wounded in a gun attack by a neighbor in a mountain village of this city, police said.
Police identified the young casualty as Jasper Ceniza, a Grade 3 pupil of Guba Elementary School. He took a bullet in the chest and was declared dead at the Guba Emergency Hospital.
The boy’s parents—Reynaldo Ybañez, 38, a farmer, and live-in partner Cristina Ceniza, 27—suffered bullet wounds and initially brought to the same hospital where their son died. They were transferred to the Cebu City Medical Center, according to PO3 Geoffrey Gutual, of the Cebu City police homicide section.
Gutual said two other children of the couple were unhurt.
Gutual quoted Ybañez as saying that he, his live-in partner and their three children were sleeping on the floor of their small house in Sitio Kabulihan, Guba, past 9 a.m. when they were roused by the sound of gunfire.
Ybañez told police he crawled to the door and saw a man, apparently the one who fired the shots, fleeing.
Ybañez tagged the suspect as his neighbor, Junrey Andrecoso, 31, who bore a grudge against him, according to Gutual.
Andrecoso was later arrested and held at the barangay hall while the three victims were brought to the hospital by their neighbors.
Gutual said Ybañez and Andrecoso had a heated argument on Nov. 27 after Ybañez’s son, Jasper, was bitten by Andrecoso’s dog.
Ybañez reportedly threatened to kill the dog, Gutual added. Andrecoso denied the shooting and was subjected to paraffin tests.
Andrecoso, however, later admitted to the crime but said he didn’t intend to kill anyone but just threaten Ybañez.