Gun attack on New Year drinkers leaves Makati boy dead

Fireworks light up the sky as Filipinos welcome the New Year under a slight drizzle in Manila, Philippines. Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. Traditionally Filipinos welcome the New Year with firecrackers, fireworks, midnight snacks known as “media noche” and almost anything to make the loudest noise possible. AP/Bullit Marquez

A 7-year-old boy was killed and a man who was just visiting his friends in Makati City was wounded after a village watchman opened fire on a group of drinkers on the sidewalk early Friday.

The New Year celebration in Barangay Southside turned violent when Raymundo Liza, a member of the local Bantay Bayan, drew a .45-cal. pistol and fired several times at a group of men along Bulusan Street, police said.

Liza was reportedly targeting a visitor to the village known only as John Edward from Pasay City. He hit John Edward in the chest but a stray bullet also hit a minor, Mark Angelo Diego, in the head as he was playing in front of his house.

Diego was brought to Ospital ng Makati where he underwent surgery, lapsed into a coma, before dying from the gunshot wound Friday afternoon, said Makati police chief, Senior Supt. Ernesto Barlam.

The boy’s death was confirmed to the police by his aunt, Elizabeth Diego, Barlam said. John Edward remained confined at OsMak at press time.

The case investigator, SPO2 Nilo Sadsad, said Liza was drunk when he approached John Edward’s group and asked him where he was from. When John Edward said that he was from Pasay, Liza reportedly got irked by the way he replied and pulled out his gun.

Liza, who lived two houses away from the crime scene, fled on foot after the shooting and is now the target of a police manhunt. Five bullet casings were recovered at the site of the attack, Sadsad added.