Boy who shot pal yields
The 11-year-old boy accused of shooting and wounding a 13-year-old neighbor in barangay Pasil, Cebu City, surrendered to authorities yesterday.
The boy was accompanied by his mother to the office of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
The mother said there was no intention to hide her son. She said she sent her son to their hometown in Leyte where he stayed for a few days until the situation started to cool down in Pasil.
The mother coordinated with former Pasil barangay councilor Marivic Alolor on Monday afternoon to ask for help since they wanted to ensure the safety of her son before he surrenders.
Alolor, who is employed with the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), contacted social worker Dexter Paro for the boy’s surrender.
The boy, who had his face partly covered with a jacket, said he did not intentionally shoot his 13-year-old neighbor.
Article continues after this advertisementHe said he saw a gun under a computer. He took the gun and played with it until it went off.
Article continues after this advertisementThe mother said her family didn’t own any firearm.
The 11-year-old boy is the eldest in a brood of three.
Paro said since the boy is a minor, a criminal complaint cannot be filed against him.
“But the parents may be filed with a civil case, which will compel them to shoulder the hospital bills and even the medicine needs of the victim,” he said.
Mayor Rama said the city will help pay for the victim’s hospital bills through the Champ, the city’s hospitalization program.
The city will also be giving food assistance and a wheelchair for the victim.
Paro said the 11-year-old boy will be referred for counseling and intervention at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
“If psychologists would say that he will have to be placed in a center, then that’s what we will do,” said Paro.
Until then, he said the boy will have to stay with his family “because they are part of the intervention process so he will not be made to commit another offense in the future.”
Paro said the boy’s family already gave financial assistance to the victim but he just could not determine how much.
Another social worker, he said, is focusing on helping in the recovery of the 14-year-old victim.
Senior Insp. Jul Mohammad Jamiri, chief of the homicide section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said investigation will be made to identify the owner of the .38 pistol that was already surrendered to Taboan police station.
Jamiri said there were witnesses who saw the boy squeeze the trigger thrice until it went off and hit the victim in the head. CHIEF OF REPORTERS DORIS C. BONGCAC WITH A REPORT FROM CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON
