ILOILO City – A birthday party in Barangay Ticud, La Paz district turned bloody Friday morning. Two lads were shot dead and the celebrator was hospitalized.
Eighteen-year- olds Earl Jonathan Gatin and Albert Leopar died at the West Visayas State University Medical Center with the former sustaining two gunshot wounds to the chest and the latter a fatal wound at the back of his head.
Gatin was a resident of Barangay Ticud while Leopar was from Barangay North Baluarte, Molo district.
Meanwhile, birthday celebrator Rinz Anthony Mahusay, 19, was recuperating in the same hospital due to gunshot wounds on an arm and a leg.
According to Police Major Jose Val Ladublan, chief of the La Paz police station, the three, along with other friends, were binge drinking inside the store of the Mahusay family. Around 1:30 a.m., bursts of gunfire were heard.
Ten empty shells of a .45 pistol were recovered from the crime scene.
“We have identified a suspect but we have no witnesses that could pin him down,” Ladublan told Panay News.
Hours prior to the shooting, Mahusay’s friends from Ticud and North Baluarte had some misunderstanding but barangay officials managed to pacify them.
Mahusay’s friends from Ticud reportedly left while the three victims continued drinking.
“Investigation is still ongoing to obtain information and more evidence,” Ladublan added./PN
