Grade school boy killed by classmate

BAGUIO CITY—A Grade 5 pupil died on Thursday when he was severely mauled by a classmate in what could have been a school prank gone wrong.

The pupil, 10, and his attacker, 11, had been teasing each other inside their classroom when the latter took one joke badly and retaliated by pulling the victim toward him by his hood, police said.

Police said the suspect began kicking the victim four times before pushing him against a blackboard where he fell. The victim was taken by the school security guards to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center where he died.

Police investigators said the attending doctor detected signs that the victim had also been strangled.

The suspect was questioned and released in the presence of a lawyer provided by the Public Attorney’s Office, with the promise to appear when required by the city prosecutor. Vincent Cabreza and Ivon Domingo, Inquirer Northern Luzon