SM Pampanga shooting victims ‘brain dead’, says doctor

MANILA, Philippines – Two minors involved in a shooting incident inside a popular shopping mall in Pampanga Tuesday are both brain dead, a report on Radyo Inquirer 990AM said Wednesday.

Quoting Dr. Alfonso Danac, head of the emergency room of Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital, the report said that the kin of the 13-year-old boy who attempted suicide after shooting his 17-year-old male friend in SM Pampanga, have decided to donate his cornea and kidneys once his life support system is shut off as per the family’s decision. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the older victim was 16 years old)

Danac said he has yet to hear from the family of the 17-year-old, according to Radyo Inquirer.

The identities of the two have been withheld.

The incident happened between 11:45 and 11:50 a.m. Tuesday as the two walked out of the Congo Grill in Building 3 of SM shopping mall. No shopper was hurt, police said.

Superintendent Wilson Santos, police chief of Mexico town, said investigators found a suicide note in one of the pockets of the boy, a resident of Olongapo City.

“I’m willing to die together with [name of his friend],” the boy’s note said.

Another source, who read the note, said the boy also wrote: “I’m happy to kill you. No one else would own you.” The boy’s friend is a native of Bulacan. He was shot in the back of the head.

The families of the two boys, who arrived Tuesday evening, denied knowing anything about their relationship.

In a statement, SM management said it was cooperating with police in the investigation.

A separate radio report said Wednesday that SM Pampanga was doing its job of ensuring the safety of its shoppers but admitted that its metal detector failed to uncover the pistol used by the boy in the shooting. Karen Boncocan, Jamie Elona, INQUIRER.net