2 FEU students shot dead, 1 hurt

Two students of the Far Eastern University (FEU) were killed after they were shot by still unidentified men near the school campus on Nicanor Reyes Sr. Street (formerly Morayta) in Manila on Tuesday night.

A third student survived but remains confined at a nearby hospital for a gunshot wound in the back, the police said.

According to Chief Insp. Joey de Ocampo, Manila Police District homicide section head, probers have yet to determine the motive for the shooting although they were looking into the possibility that it could be related to the stabbing of a University of Santo Tomas student months ago on the FEU campus.

Another angle being considered was a recent brawl in the University Belt area.

Probe ongoing

“We have yet to establish the motive and we also have no clue on who the suspects are since no witness has come forward,” De Ocampo said.

He added that they had asked officials of a nearby bank to let them view the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera to help them in their investigation.

De Ocampo identified the fatalities as Jerald Ramos, 21, and Juan Paolo Nepumuceno, 17, both members of the Green Bisons, which is part of the FEU cheering squad. They died due to multiple gunshots wounds.

The third victim, Adrian Santiago, 18, survived and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Police records showed the victims had gone to nearby R. Papa Street to buy food during a break in the middle of practice on Tuesday night. They were walking back to the school gym on Nicanor Reyes Sr. Street at 7:45 p.m. when they were shot.

Act of violence

“The FEU community deeply mourns this act of violence against its students and we share the bereavement of the families of Jerald and Paulo,” officials of the school said in a statement.

They announced that the school would hold a nine-day prayer vigil from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Gate 4 and succeeding vigils would be held at the FEU Manila Quadrangle.

“We pray for justice, for healing and for guidance in our crusade for security and order in the University Belt,” the statement read.

The FEU management also asked the public to condemn “these senseless acts of violence and join [them] in prayer.”