Cebu City shooting: Father remorseful for ‘accidentally’ killing his son

A 63-year-old man landed in jail after he shot his son dead in Brgy. Lahug, Cebu City on Monday evening, March 25, 2024. | Screenshot from video courtesy of dyHP via Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 63-year-old man is now left with feelings of regret after his attempt at warning his aggressive son resulted to the latter’s untimely death in Cebu City.

Eugenio Bontilao Caballes, 63, is now detained at the custodial facility of the Mabolo Police Station after he shot his own son in the head late Monday evening, March 25.

His 28-year-old son, Kenn Pondar, died while being treated at the hospital.

READ: Father shoots son dead for disrespecting mom in Cebu City

Eugenio, on the other hand, surrendered himself to police shortly after.

In an interview with local radio station dyHP, the suspect admitted that he regretted what he did on that fateful night. 

Eugenio was unable to talk at that time due to an injury on his neck after he was hit by his son with a wooden stick with a nail sticking on the end.

Kenn allegedly attacked Eugenio after the latter confronted Kenn for disrespecting his mother, who only asked him to turn off the lights of their house.

READ: Father jailed for gunning down son in Lahug, Cebu City

Eugenio’s intervention escalated into Kenn attacking the former with the wooden stick with nail and to the fatal shooting of Kenn in their house in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

The argument allegedly started after Kenn yelled at his mother, who earlier told him to turn off the lights of his hut.

This disrespectful attitude of Kenn prompted Eugenio to confront his 28-year-old son.

With a nod of his head to questions asked to him, he conveyed that he only wanted to warn his son, who had shown aggressiveness to them multiple times before.

READ: Hammered to death in Daanbantayan: Father kills ‘sleeping son’ after argument

He said that he initially wanted to only fire a warning shot up at the sky but in the course of the argument, he allegedly accidentally shot him instead in the head.

He also claimed that he found the firearm that he used in the shooting during an incident somewhere.

He said he had no intention to kill his own son, no matter how much he misbehaved.

With tears in his eyes, he said it pained him to realize that he had killed his son, the youngest of 8 children.

He described his son, Kenn, to have been previously violent against him and that he claimed that the son was a frequent user of illegal drugs.

He also claimed that the victim would also allegedly drink alcohol and would cause trouble at home.

READ: Village councilor shot dead by riding-in-tandem gunmen in Quezon

Despite this, the couple still gave him food and allowed him to stay in the small hut just outside their house. 

The suspect’s wife, Luisa, earlier said that she believed her husband was only surprised by the attack and shot their son out of anger.

She also said that while she was unsure if Kenn was under the influence of drugs at the time, she observed him being quiet and irritable before the shooting. 

Luisa said that she was distraught with the death of her son and her elderly husband being in jail.

Meanwhile, Eugenio remains in the custody of police, pending the filing of parricide charges against him.

According to Police Major Romeo Caacoy, chief  of Mabolo Police Station, they will be filing the charges against Eugenio, no matter what his family would decide to do — whether they would file a case or not.