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Monday, May 12, 2003
Compound strafed; owner, student hit
CEBU -- A businessman ended up in the hospital after an unidentified man, with a barrage of gunfire, interrupted a gathering he hosted with friends inside a compound on Uytengsu St., Cebu City Saturday night.
Jameson Go Chua, 45, remained confined Sunday in a private hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds on his chin and chest. His condition was not critical, however.
A bullet also grazed the left arm of Gary Ferolino, 22, a student, during the strafing.
Homicide investigator Rey Cuyos said Chua manages the compound where the strafing occurred. Another source said he owns a rattan factory.
Cuyos added investigators have yet to discover the motive for the attack, pulled off by men using a silver-gray Honda CRV and a white pick-up as their getaway vehicles.
Police counted in fraternity-related conflict as possible motive.
Cuyos said Chua and his boarders were gathered outside their doors, but within the compound. Many of the boarders are students.
Some were drinking, while others were playing cards.
One side of the gate, some 15 meters from where Chua's group sat, was open during that time.
Suddenly, a man appeared and fired several shots without saying a word.
Marco Daginod, one of the boarders who was on the second floor, saw three men board the Honda CRV right after the gunfire, with the white pickup stationed ahead of it.
Both vehicles immediately fled towards Osmeņa Blvd.
Responding Mobile Patrol Group policemen found seven empty shells of a .45 handgun.
Cuyos said all the persons who were gathered in the compound could not give any possible motive for the attack.
Chua's wife could not think of any reason for the attack because her husband has no known enemies.
But Cuyos clarified that as of the moment, the police cannot say if Chua was the target of the attackers, as he was with a group during the assault.
Cuyos added they have to wait for Chua to recuperate so they can ask him if he can explain the attack.
Last Saturday, the police could not talk to Chua because of the wound on his chin.
The homicide section will further investigate the strafing; among the angles they will consider are business rivalry and inter-fraternity conflicts.
He said most of Chua's boarders are students who might be members of fraternities in their schools. MBG/Sun.Star Cebu |
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