Girl shot dead, parents wounded in ambush

AN 11-year-old girl was killed while her parents were wounded in what could be a drug-related gun attack in barangay Tutay, Pinamungahan, southwest Cebu on Wednesday.

The family was riding in their service multicab at 5 p.m. when two men fired on the vehicle near the Tutay Elemetnary School.

Charges of murder and two counts of frustrated murder will be filed against Perfecto Dacuma of Aloguinsan town as the suspected gunman.

He was arrested yesterday and was positiviely identified by the parents who survived the attack, said Chief Insp. Raymundo Enriquez, police chief of Pinamungahan.

The girl, Mary Joy Eramis, was pronounced dead from a bullet wound in the left torso on arrival at the Pinamungahan District Hospital.

Her parentswere both injured. Roan, 31 was shot in the left arm while his wife Lea, 34, was wounded in left thigh.

Roan refused to say what could be the motive, but police officials said it could be related to drugs because Roan was in the police order of battle or priority list of suspected criminal figures since 2006 for his involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Enriquez said Roan yesterday admitted that he used to be in the drug trade but had already stopped.

Enriquez said he appealed to the father to tell the truth and give more information so the case would be solved.

The couple and their daughter had just left their residence in barangay Sacsac on Wednesday afternoon.

As their vehicle approached the national highway, two armed men fired on them.

Roan was driving the multicab. The assailants rode off on a motorcycle.

Police found two empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol, a yellow shirt and red hooded jacket on the road.

Police arrested Dacuma a 40-year-old resident of barangay Esperanza, Aloguinsan at 9 a.m. the next day.

He was shirtless when he was spotted by the police with his motorcycle parked in front of his house.

The last two digits of the motorbike’s license plate – 22- matched the description of the getaway motorcycle of the gunmen.

When police tried to invite Dacuma for questioning he refused.

Police then brought Roan to barangay Esperanza to identify the suspect at 6 a.m. on Thursday.

When Dacuma arrived home, where police were waiting, Roan immediately ran towards the man and began punching him, declaring that Dacuma was the gunman.

Dacuma was also positively identified by the girl’s mother after police brought him to the Pinamungahan District Hospital.

Lea stood up from her hospital bed when they arrived and pointed to Dacuma as the gunman.

Dacuma denied he had any part in teh shooting.