Teenage couple killed in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines – Motorcycle-riding men gunned down Saturday night a teenage couple, who were hanging out in Quezon City.

Police investigators said the shooters’ target was 19-year-old Marlon Moralde of 1931 Adarna Street, Unit 5, Barangay Commonwealth, but his girlfriend Marian Gaudia, 14 of Creekside Pilot Area in the same barangay, was collateral damage.

The gunmen, armed with a .45 and 9mm pistols, quickly fled after the attack and are the subjects of a police hunt. Both teenagers died instantly from multiple bullet wounds in the head and body.

PO2 Roldan Cornejo of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) said the incident happened at around 9 pm at the corner of Adarna Extension and Campopot Streets in Barangay Commonwealth.

Before the incident, Cornejo said, Moralde was sitting outside his home talking to his girlfriend when two men, aboard a motorcycle, arrived. The motorcycle passenger alighted, pulled out a handgun and started firing at the teenagers.

Though wounded, both Moralde and Gaudia were able to run a short distance before the gunmen again caught up with them and fired more shots. The motorcycle driver approached the badly wounded Moralde and shot the teenager in the head to ensure the kill. Both gunmen then fled aboard their motorcycle.

The Scene of the Crime Office (SOCO) personnel recovered three bullet casings and a slug from a .45 pistol as well as seven bullet casings from a 9mm pistol at the crime scene.

The motive behind the assault remains under investigation, Cornejo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

But based on a witness account, Cornejo said it was Moralde whom the suspects initially approached and Gaudia happened to be at the wrong place and wrong time.

“It is possible that they never intended to kill Gaudia but they had to involve her because she might have recognized them,” the case investigator said.