Boy, 13, shot dead near Tondo slaughterhouse

A 13-year-old boy was shot dead near a slaughterhouse in Tondo, Manila on Friday night by a masked man, whom one of his playmates said was wearing “police pants.”

Before he died, Aldrine Pineda, a Grade 6 pupil from Gen. Vicente Lim Elementary School, told his father Allan that a “police officer” had shot him in the stomach, his aunt Russel said.

In a report reaching Manila police district director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel, Pineda and two other boys were seated along the fence of Vitas Slaughterhouse around 8 p.m.when a man holding a flashlight, “who seemed to be securing the place,” approached them.

Pineda’s two companions ran away just as a gunshot rang out and the man ran away.

One of his companions, a 13-year-old boy, told the Inquirer that Pineda even managed to walk toward them, lift his bloodied shirt and mutter “Nabaril ako (I was shot).”

Pineda’s friend carried him to his home in Unit 309, Building 8 in Barangay 101 Vitas Katuparan where he collapsed.

Masked assailant

He said Pineda’s assailant was wearing a mask, white shirt and “parang pampulis na pantalon at belt,” though he said he couldn’t see more of him because it was dark.

His father Allan rushed him to Tondo Medical Center, where a dying Pineda told him that “pulis ‘yung bumaril sa’kin.” He refused to talk further.

The Grade 6 student later succumbed to his wounds at 3:40 a.m. Saturday.

Aldrine’s grandmother Corazon was still in shock over her grandson’s death. “It was all so sudden. Just before he left the house he had offered to wash my laundry for me. He even told me not to exhaust myself.”

Honor student

His 17-year-old brother Alvin said that hours before his death, Aldrine had treated his siblings and playmates to soft drinks.

“He was kind. There is no one I could think of who could harm him,” he said.

Aldrine, the second among five siblings, was also a consistent honor student in his school and was supposed to graduate from elementary this April, his brother added.

His father Allan had been a former drug user and surrenderee under the government’s “Oplan Tokhang” program in their barangay in 2016, Russel said.