Two cousins were mauled by an unidentified man in barangay Carreta, Cebu City.
Police said John Paul Buot and Jessie Cabahug may have been mistaken as thieves.
Police said the two men came from the house of their aunt and were walking in an alley in sitio Laurente past 11 p.m. last Saturday.
An unidentified man whose face was covered with a cloth approached the two men and asked them where they lived.
Cabahug was about to answer when he and Buot was hit with a hard object in the face.
Cabahug and Buot ran but the man chased them with a gun.
The man fired at the two men but missed.
The assailant disappeared when Cabahug and Buot reached their aunt’s house.
Police said a background check revealed that Buot was previously jailed for a theft case./REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL