Bloody Thursday: 4 killed, 1 wounded in Cebu City and Mandaue City shootings

One of the victims in the shooting incident in Mandaue City this Thursday morning, May 28, 2020. | Contributed Photo.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — It has been a bloody Thursday in Cebu after four individuals were killed while one was wounded in separate shooting incidents in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.

As of this posting, police said two of the shooting suspects remained unidentified while the other one killed himself after shooting his victims.

The series of shootings started in Sitio Lutaw-lutaw, Barangay Santo Niño, Cebu City on Thursday dawn where a 38-year-old woman was killed while sleeping on the back of a multicab vehicle.

Police Staff Sergeant Francel Buling of Waterfront Police station identified the victim as a certain Ethyl who was known as a candle vendor and laundrywoman in the area.

The woman was found with a gunshot wound on her chest.

Based on the initial investigation, residents in the area said they heard a burst of gunfire at around 3 a.m. but none dared to investigate hence the assailant remained unidentified.

The police are still looking into the possible motive of the shooting but Buling said they are more inclined to believe that personal grudge is behind the woman’s killing.

About five hours later, or around 8 a.m. another shooting incident was reported inside a commercial establishment along A.S. Fortuna Street, Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City.

Police said the suspect in the second shooting incident was a security guard who shot and wounded a female guard and later shot and killed another security guard whom police said was a former policeman. The suspect later shot himself.

Police Executive Master Rico Cabatingan, of Station 4 of MCPO, identified the victims as Jessie Liza, 31 and retired Police Chief Master Sergeant Benedicto Sumagang.

Sumagang succumbed to a gunshot wound on the left side of his body and was found slumped on the floor inside one of the offices in the building while Liza sustained a wound on her chest but was able to make it to the hospital and is currently in a stable condition.

The suspect was later identified as Raymond Alquisola, a security guard of the same building. Cabatingan said that Alquisola was found with a gunshot wound whom police believed was self-inflicted.

Police said Alquisola suddenly started shooting using his 9 mm pistol when he arrived in the building. When Alquisola barged into the office where Sumagang was staying, the former locked the door. Police later found the two lifeless and bathe in their own blood.

Cabatingan said they are still trying to determine the exact reason why Alquisola shot his fellow security guards but said that they are looking into reports that Alquisola had been complaining about his low pay at work.

The third shooting incident happened at around noon on Thursday in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City which claimed the life of a former police officer.

Police Captain Janelito Marquez, commander of Guadalupe Police Station, identified the victim as former Police Chief Master Sergeant Brazilio Borinaga, who sustained gunshot wounds on his head and other parts of the body.

Marquez said that Borinaga and his wife just arrived from buying groceries when the unidentified assailant shot him dead with a caliber. 45 pistol before fleeing to an unknown direction.

Marquez said they are looking into previous work assignments as the possible motive of the killing.

Borinaga was previously assigned to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and was transferred to Cordillera Region before retiring in 2017.  /rcg