Amok breaks out in fiesta crowd; man subdued

SEVEN persons were injured after a man believed to be mentally ill hacked them in Lapu-Lapu City, which was celebrating its fiesta yesterday.

Senior Supt. Mariano Natuel, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) director, identified the attacker as Rosalio Tariman, 22, who hails from Aurora, Barangay Tinago, Zamboanga City.

Natuel said that at 12:20 p.m. in Plaza Rizal in Barangay Poblacion, Tariman, who was armed with an 11-inch long butcher knife, suddenly attacked everyone he met.

“Mora man tog nagutman. Morag nay deperensiya sa pangutok (I think there’s something
wrong with his mind),” Natuel told Sun.Star Cebu.

Subdued

Tariman was neutralized after he was shot by two field training policemen, PO1 Archie Borres and PO1 Ruel Pelones, who were roving in the area.

The policemen opted to shoot Tariman after the latter tried to hack them.

Tariman was hit in the back and right side of his body. He is now confined at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC). Borres and Pelones guarded him yesterday.

Pelones said Tariman, despite being wounded, continued his freak behavior inside the emergency room of CCMC.

“He called up the janitor before he lay on his bed. When the latter was near, Tariman suddenly slapped him,” Pelones said in Cebuano.

Homicide investigator PO3 Dioscoro Arong, in a separate phone interview, said Tariman’s victims, who were mostly fiesta goers, were hit in the back.

Arong said no victim was critically injured, though.

“The wounds are not severe. The doctor said they are already stable,” he said.

Victims

The victims were rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC). They are Ruel Serencio, 26; Rosita Gelig, 56; Beverlyn Amabao, 26; Andresa Sumalinog, 38; Dorry Cañete, 33; Teresita Macalipay, 50; and Jeffrey Vargas, 35.

Vargas was discharged right away for he only suffered a small wound in his right hand.
Arong encouraged the victims to press charges against Tariman. But only Sumalinog said he will charge Tariman.

Natuel said the hacking incident was an isolated case. He assessed the fiesta’s situation yesterday as calm.

“Di man god ta ka-kontrol sa panghitabo ug sa hunahuna sa suspek (We can’t control every incident and the suspect’s mind),” he said.