Friday, July 13, 2007 Carcar shooting gunman targeted only one person By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
ONLY one man was the target in the shooting in Sitio Awayan, Barangay Poblacion 3, Carcar City last Wednesday night.
Leopoldo Sarador, 37, had picked up his 13-year-old daughter from her night high school class that time. They decided to wait at a motorcycle stand in Sitio Awayan to get more passengers before going home.
When they reached the motorcycle stand and after his daughter Jeanette got off, rapid gunfire wounded Sarador in the right arm.
Sarador fell to the ground, but he managed to get up.
A tearful Jeanette told a Sun.Star Cebu news team that the gunmen saw her father stand up, prompting them to run back and finish him off.
“Imbis nilakaw na unta to, kita tingali sila nga nibangon ug balik (They were about to leave but they saw him get up),” Jeanette said.
She said she ran inside a nearby bakery out of fear. She considers herself lucky that she was not hit.
Though she did not see anybody, she admitted she felt they were being followed when he picked her up from school.
Carcar Police Chief SPO3 Jonas Pananganan said the gunmen may have underestimated the power of the automatic pistol they were armed with, which was why another driver was killed while four others were wounded.
Suspect
Gerardo Cuizon, 29, of Barangay Liburon was also killed in the incident while Joel Gemoya, 29, Gerardo Tampos, 20, Jaime Pananganan Jr., 26, and Manuel Aldaya, 56, were wounded.
An Uzi and a .45 pistol were reportedly used by the gunmen.
Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria said they already have a suspect but declined to name him pending their investigation.
He told Pananganan to inform him if he needed personnel to conduct an operation against the suspected gunmen because they will provide him with more operatives.
Sarador’s cousin, Dennis Sabala, was shot last April after gunmen strafed his house in Sitio Dapdap. He suffered four gunshot wounds but survived.
Sabala’s father, however, had a heart attack and died when he learned of the incident.
Sarador’s relatives believe the same people behind Sabala’s attack had something to do with Wednesday’s shooting.
Sarador’s wife, Lilia, said the man responsible for Sabala’s strafing may have believed Sarador sided with his cousin.
She claimed Sabala once borrowed Sarador’s motorcycle, which is why the man earlier threatened to kill him.
Feud
Relatives said Sabala’s attackers had threatened to finish off the entire family.
Jeanette said she saw three men flee the area. She could not recognize them because they concealed their faces with masks. Pananganan said they checked on Sarador’s background and found no criminal record.
However, those close to him described him as a comedian. Aside from the motive the family gave him, he said it was also possible he made a joke at somebody who did not take it lightly.
He is also looking into a drug-related angle.
As for the rest of the victims, they were just unfortunate to be there at the time, he said.
“Clearly, whoever is behind the attack had a deep grudge because he opened fire even with many people around,” Pananganan said in Cebuano.
