Ayaw pre!”
Those were the last words muttered by a 36-year- old man who was shot dead by a neighbor in barangay Labangon, Cebu City yesterday morning.
Ernesto Casio succumbed to gunshot wounds in the chest, left torso and back.
The alleged assailant, Esperidion Ruba, 52, a security guard of Sarsalejo Security Agency, fled after the attack.
Police said Ruba’s 28-year-old son John Rey served as a cohort in the attack.
They said a personal grudge was the motive behind the attack. Ruba left five children.
The victim’s 40-year-old wife Minda told police that they were inside their house in sitio Upper Sta. Ana when Ruba shot Ernest at past 10 a.m.
Minda said Ruba fired several times at her husband from the window of their house.
She recounted that as Ruba pointed a gun at her husband, Ernesto shouted “ayaw pre!” before gunshots rang out.
Ernesto fell to the wooden floor with multiple gunshot wounds in the body.
Paramedics brought Ernesto to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center where he later died.
One of Ernesto’s sons saw John Rey outside fleeing on foot and carrying a knife.
Based on police investigation, Ruba lodged a complaint against Ernesto at the barangay hall last Saturday after his neighbor allegedly threw stones at his house.
Ruba’s 49-year-old wife Miña said Ernesto would run amok when he gets drunk.
The victim’s house was about three meters from the house of the Rubas.
Miña said there was a time when Ernesto threw bottles, a pail, and a cup at their house. To avoid trouble, Miña advised her husband not to mind Ernesto.
Miña said Ernesto threw a pail at her husband when he went out of their house on his way to work last Saturday.
Miña said he was in a neighbor’s house when she heard bursts of gunfire. Miña said her husband was no longer in the house when she went home
“I want him (Esperidion) to surrender,” said Miña in Cebuano.
A hot pursuit operation is ongoing against Ruba and his son, said police./REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL