MANILA, Philippines — Two computer network gamers, including a teenager, were shot dead early Monday inside a computer shop by three men in Manila.
The assailants shouted “Hold-up!” barging into the newly opened Social Hub Computer Shop at the corner of Fajardo and Cristobal Streets in Sampaloc before one of them proceeded to repeatedly fire at the victims.
But Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section investigators pointed out that the primary motive was to kill the two men.
Gold Morris Ancheta, 18, and his cousin Kevin Van Erick Villegas, 20, both residents of Prudencio Street in Sampaloc, with the latter being a member of the Bahala na Gang, were declared dead on arrival by attending doctors at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital from multiple bullet wounds in the body.
Police Officer 2 Jose Gumilan, case investigator, said that both men were heavily tattooed. Ancheta bore tattoos of “Ride or Die,” “MPR,” “Convict,” “Villegas” and “Romans 7:14” with a picture of Jesus Christ and a person‘s face on the lower part of his stomach. Villegas had “To die for” tattooed on the right side of his chest, markings of the Bahala na Gang on his right wrist and “Only God Knows Why Life After Death,” on the right side of his shoulder.
Gumilan said that the killings happened at around 2:45 a.m. on Monday, inside the computer shop where the cousins were playing network games with several other friends.
Three men entered the shop and suddenly announced a robbery. But instead of divesting the computer shop patrons of their belongings, one of the men approached Ancheta and Villegas brandishing a .45 caliber pistol.
Without any provocation, the armed man repeatedly shot the two cousins and fled with his cohorts aboard a green Toyota Avanza driven by an accomplice. The wounded victims were rushed to the nearest hospital but the effort to save them proved futile.
Ancheta died from five gunshot wounds in the body while his cousin sustained four bullet wounds.
Gumilan pointed out that he recovered eight empty shells and six slugs of a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.
He told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that although the assailants announced a hold-up, the motive was to kill Ancheta and Villegas because they never divested any of the other patrons nor the computer shop of belongings.
He said they were still investigating why anybody would want the two men killed.
MPD homicide section investigators have been conducting follow-up operations to identify and arrest the killers.