This is a very sad Mother’s Day for us. My wife just lost her youngest son. She can’t stop crying. Justice should be served,” said Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura.
Their 25-year-old son Carl Vinson was shot dead in the head by an unidentified assailant about 1 a.m. while dancing in an outdoor disco in barangay Valladolid, Carcar.
Carl had gone out Saturday evening to buy barbecue with friends when they decided to vist the concert-cum-disco in sitio Tubod.
He was last seen dancing with Joy Lañas when he was killed. The young man was rushed to the Carcar City District Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
The girl he was dancing with said it was the first time for her to meet the mayor’s son. They were introduced by a common friend, she told Cebu Daily News.
She said that while they were dancing, she she heard a gunshot and ducked for cover. Later she found the mayor’s son in a pool of blood.
Residents in the area said that it was the first time they saw Carl Vinson in their placeand din’t know he was the mayor’s son until after the shooting.
“Everyone was just dancing. There was no trouble at all. And then we heard a gunshot. When we saw a man covered with blood we were asking each other who he was, then one of his companions said he was the mayor’s son,” said Lucy Diagano, a vendor selling drinks in the site.
Nobody saw the gunman clearly because everyone scampered for safety after the gunfire, she said, and the lights were dimmed in the disco.
PO3 Vicente Garces Jr. said no slug or empty shell was recovered at the scene. He said Carl Vinzons belonged to the Alpha Kappa Rho (Akrho) fraternity and that fraternity rivalry could be a motive in the violence.
Mayor Apura said his son had no enemies nor could he recall him receiving any threats on his life.
“He was a very good son. He was not a trouble-maker. He’s kind and he does not have enemies,” the mayor said.
The mayor quesitioned why an outdoor disco was organized in the barangay when he had already banned these activities.
He said that he couldn’t remember giving a permit for the event. He also notified the barangay captain of Valladolid on the matter, but the barangay official denied giving a permit.
The family decided to have the vigil wae at their home in barangay Valladolid.
Apura said his son had asked his permission to go out and buy barbecue. The mayor said Carl Vinson was with close friends who also served as his assistants in running his Internet shop and tending to his fighting cocks.
The mayor said he trusts the Carcar police to do their job but won’t pressure the police to capture the killer.
On the Akrho fraternity angle raised by the police, lawyer Clarence Paul Oaminal, an Akrho member, said this was not a likely motive because there was no conflict with other fraternities, especially in Carcar City.
Oaminal urged the police to look deeper into the case. /Carine M. Asutilla and Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondent