Date between 2 16-year-olds ends in tragedy

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy was shot dead while his girlfriend of the same age was gang-raped by four of their six attackers in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.

Residents who live about 20 meters from the crime scene said they heard what they thought was a firecracker past 2 a.m. yesterday.

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They only found out what happened when the girl asked them for help.

The incident disturbed Mactan Barangay Captain Paz Radaza, who chairs the Local Council for the Protection of Women and Children, and she asked the police to arrest the suspects quickly.

“How is our curfew? Why were these minors roaming around at unholy hours? The police should do its best to dismantle gangs and solve this crime as quickly as possible,” she said.

A police investigation report said Russel Booc and his girlfriend went to a burger store along the highway after having sex in a grassy area. They were on their way back to the place when the six others waylaid them.

Their attackers, the girl said, belonged to the Bloods gang. One of the culprits poked a gun at Booc and ordered him to lie face down, while the four others raped his girlfriend and the sixth served as the lookout.

The gunman then shot Booc in the head pointblank, and the gang walked away.

Acting City Police Director Mariano Natuel assured the police will get the culprits within the week.

“They are in Lapu-Lapu and we have clues to their identities,” he said.

Relatives of Booc could not say whether he belonged to any gang, but admitted he always came home late.

His mother Eslawa, 45, said the boy never had a quarrel with anyone and showed no signs he was running around with a gang.

“Buotan man na siya. Ambot lang, wala gyod mi kahibalo nga miyembro na siya og gang (He was a good boy. We don’t know if he was a member of any gang),” she said of her son. (AIV)