Motorcycle race ends in shooting; 1 killed, 6 hurt
MANILA, Philippines—A man was killed while six others were injured in a shooting early Tuesday morning during an illegal motorcycle race on a Quezon City thoroughfare in which one group felt cheated, police said.
Jackie Pajaroja, 22, was killed on the spot when someone in the adversary group suddenly fired on him and his companions during an argument after the first of what was to be a series of three races on Mindanao Avenue Extension around 4:20 a.m.
Case investigator Police Officer 3 Erickson Isidro said the assailants, numbering about 15, felt they had been cheated. It was not clear, however, how many in the group were armed or how many of them fired guns.
“There was a confrontation between the victim’s group and the suspects because they accused the victim of cheating,” Isidro said.
Pajaroja, a hair stylist and resident of Jordan Plains Subdivision in Barangay (village) Sta. Monica, died on the spot from three gunshot wounds in the head.
His injured companions were identified as Carl Webb, 38, Michael Raye Tolentino, Jeffrey Virray, 33, Mico Caguindagan, 19, and Nico Tanchaves, 28, all residents of Quezon City. Most of them sustained gunshot wounds in the lower limbs, Isidro said.
A sixth wounded victim, Joe-Ed Salvador, 22, of Caloocan City was in critical condition at the FEU Hospital with a bullet in the abdomen.
Tolentino was hit in the right knee while Virray, Caguindagan, Tanchavez and Salvador were hit by stray bullets.
Isidro said crime scene investigators recovered 52 spent caliber .40 shells from the scene.
The shooting happened at around 4:20 a.m. at the corner of Mindanao Avenue Extension and Aberdeen Street in Barangay Greater Lagro.
Pajaroja’s group and the other party did not personally know each other as a middle man had set up the illegal motorcycle race.
Isidro said detectives were still trying to tracking down the middle man, who arranged the race through text messaging, in order to find out the assailants’ identities.
Prior to the shooting, Pajaroja designated a certain “Jolo” to drive his Yamaha Mio motorcycle against the other group’s rider.
Isidro said it was not clear yet how much money was involved in the race, but he added that bets in this type of races usually range from P30,000 to P100,000.
The two parties had agreed to have a “best of three” race and had just completed one race, which the assailants’ side lost, according to Isidro.
The group that lost was about to leave the area without paying up, but Pajaroja confronted them and they in turn accused Pajaroja’s group of cheating.
A companion of Pajaroja, Neptalie Rosales, was about to leave the area as well when he heard a burst of gunfire.
The witness said he boarded his car with Webb in an attempt to go to Pajaroja’s house in Barangay Sta. Monica but the assailants fired at them as well.
Rosales rushed Webb, who was hurt in the second burst of gunfire, to the Commonwealth Medical Center for treatment.
Isidro said the witness returned to the venue of the race and saw the lifeless Pajaroja bloodied on the ground.
Tolentino was treated at the Commonwealth Medical Center while Tanchavez, Caguindagan, and Virray had themselves treated at the Bernardino Hospital.
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