Two hurt in strafing incident in Iloilo

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Two persons suffered minor injuries following a strafing incident early morning of July 30 in San Enrique, Iloilo.

Jan-Jan, 13, and his cousin Joy Paturara, 22, sustained graze wounds after two men sprayed bullets at their house in Barangay Braulan, a village some 10 kilometers away from San Enrique town, around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The victims only sustained minor wounds on their back and the family decided to no longer bring them to the hospital.

Jan-Jan’s father, 33-year-old Bryan Gonzales, and his stepmother, 30-year-old Ledylie Gonzales, were physically unharmed.

According to reports, the family was already sleeping when at least two motorcycle-riding persons stopped in front of their home.

Based on the empty shells recovered at the crime scene, the gunman could have used an M16 Armalite rifle in strafing the Gonzales abode.

Aside from empty cartridges of Armalite rifle ammo, police also recovered a caliber .45 pistol loaded with seven ammunitions.

Captain Airel Dawn Parcon, San Enrique police chief, theorized that the suspects may have not noticed that one of their guns fell as they left the area.

Reports claimed that the suspects fled towards Barangay Agtabo, Passi City. It was gathered that Braulan village bounds San Enrique and Passi City.

As this developed, Parcon said they already have persons of interest behind the incident.

A conflict between Lydelie’s father and an unnamed person could have triggered the attempt to kill the family.

But Parcon did not elaborate further.

She said that investigation is still going to determine other possible motives behind the incident.