Teenage girl in backseat survives

A 40-year-old family driver was killed but the teenage girl in the backseat who was being brought to school was unharmed in yesterday’s car ambush in barangay Tayud, Consolacion town, north Cebu.

Police have no clear idea yet about the motive behind the roadside attack, which took place past 6 a.m.

The driver, Joel Hallazgo, died of several gunshot wounds in the body after two unidentified men on a motorcycle drove up to his side and opened fire at the vehicle, a maroon Toyota Vios sedan.

The car was heading to Cebu City when it was shot up in sitio Sun-ok, barangay Tayud.

“Before the car went out of Marian Village, the assailants were already waiting outside around 50 meters away,” said Chief Insp. Wilbert Parilla, head of the Consolacion police station.

The backrider drew a 9mm-caliber firearm and shot Hallazgo several times.

The 16-year-old girl in the backseat was unharmed. Police said the student was on her way to classes in Velez College in Cebu City.

“She was in a state of shock after the incident. She was absent from school after what happened,” said investigator PO2 Rosvelt Matuog of the Consolacion police.

In the hail of gunfire, a bystander was shot and seriously wounded. A 15-year-old boy who was walking along the rode took a bullet in the back of the neck. The bullet was still lodged in his nape as of 8 p.m. when the boy was taken to a private hospital in Cebu City.

Witnesses told police the gunmen did not wear crash helmets or cover their faces. Local residents who saw the ambush said the faces of the assailants were not familiar.

“Dili ni sila taga-didto. It is possible they were guns-for hire,” Chief Insp. Parilla told Cebu Daily News.

The sedan with plate number GTN-910 was riddled with six bullet holes—three in the driver’s window and the top rim, said investigator SPO1 Francis Allen Villamor.

The car owner was identified as 43-year-old Leden Tubongbanua, a car dealer, who was also the brother-in-law of the slain family driver.

The two men would take turns driving the 16-year-old student to school, said SPO1 Villamor.

“We still need to investigate further the motive of the killing and who really was the target of the assailants,” said Parilla.

The police officer said Tubongbanua was engaged in buying and selling cars but didn’t have a showroom or regular office. Tubongbanua told police that he has not received any death threats before the ambush.

His wife is the sister of the slain family driver, who had worked for them for more than two years.

The car is taken under police custody for a forensic exam. CORRESPONDENT RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL