A 16-year-old boy, tagged as the fifth suspect in the fatal drive-by shooting in Brgy. Yati, Liloan on Thursday, May 9, has surrendered to police a day after the incident. | Contributed photo via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The alleged gunman responsible for the death of a 16-year-old girl and the injury of two other minors in a gang-related shooting incident in Barangay Yati, Liloan, has surrendered to authorities.
The Liloan shooting happened early Thursday morning, May 9, at a convenience store in the town.
Hours after the arrest of the 4 suspects on Friday, May 10, the last suspect has voluntarily turned himself in to the Liloan Police Station.
This was while police were conducting a hot-pursuit and manhunt operation against him for his alleged involvement in the crime.
The suspect was a 16-year-old boy who goes by the alias “Ugoy,” also a resident of Liloan.
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Police, in a report, relayed that the suspect voluntarily submitted to the police station at around 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 10.
He was accompanied by his parents.
Police Major Eric Gingoyon, chief of Liloan Police Station, said that the minor was pinpointed as an accomplice in the Liloan shooting by two other suspects “Niño” and “Makmak.”
During the attack, he was allegedly at the back driving one of the 5 motorcycles seen on closed-circuit-television (CCTV) footage of the incident.
The alleged gunman, however, denied being one of the assailants who fired shots at the group of minors who were members of a rival gang.
As of this writing, the suspect is temporarily under the safekeeping of the Liloan Police Station.
Also detained at the station are the four other suspects: “Niño,” 18; “Makmak,” 21; and the twins known as “B1” and “B2,” aged 34.
The suspects in the Liloan shooting are believed to be members of the “Bloods” gang, a rival group of ‘Crips’ where the victims belong, said police.
The four men were previously arrested in a series of hot-pursuit operations conducted in different locations on Thursday and Friday.
The deadly attack on Thursday reportedly stemmed from conflicts between two rival gangs called “Crips” and “Bloods.”
The grudge allegedly began when the two groups engaged in a brawl on Saturday, May 4, wherein a member of the “Bloods” gang was allegedly stabbed by the boyfriend of the deceased girl.
After another brawl on Wednesday, May 8, the gang fired shots targeting the member of “Bloods” who stabbed their member.
This, however, resulted to the death of the target’s 16-year-old girlfriend.
Meanwhile, two other minors sustained injuries and are recovering at the hospital.
With the apprehension of all the suspects in the deadly Liloan shooting, police are set to file charges of murder, frustrated murder, attempted murder, and possibly illegal possession of firearms against them.
In addition, Gingoyon said that they are now conducting an interrogation in order to determine if the arrested suspects’ had other accomplices.