Tondo man shot dead; stray bullet wounds girl

MANILA, Philippines—A scavenger who was a member of a street gang was killed in a gunfight that also left a 5-year-old girl wounded after being hit by a stray bullet in Tondo, Manila, Saturday night.

The police said Bonifacio Alcaraz, 33, died after exchanging shots with a still unidentified assailant around 6 p.m. on Road 10 in Tondo’s Vitas area. A bullet pierced the wall of one of the nearby homes and hit Jasmine Sariego as she was watching television.

Hit in the buttocks, the child was brought to Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, where she was declared in stable condition Sunday after the bullet was removed.

An initial investigation by members of the Raxabago-Tondo station of the Manila Police District showed that Alcaraz, a known member of the Sigue Sigue Commando Gang, was walking along Road 10 when he encountered his attacker.

Quoting witnesses, SPO4 Adonis Sugui said Alcaraz turned out to be also armed and managed to fire back. He then tried to escape but was hit several times during the chase. The assailant fled upon seeing his target fall to the ground.

When the police arrived at the scene of the encounter, however, the gun Alcaraz supposedly used could no longer be found. Sugui said it was possible that a passerby or one of the people who brought the victim to the hospital had taken it.—Maricar B. Brizuela