EDWIN Mariano never thought that a pawned cellular phone would lead to the death of his son.
Mariano’s son, Jerwin, 5, was killed when his friend, Alain Bowon, 44, shot him several times inside his hut in Barangay San Roque, Talisay City last Monday night. Mariano sustained a gunshot wound in his left leg.
Bowon, a taxi driver, was arrested hours after the incident.
Bowon denied involvement in the crime.
Mariano, 36, was sleeping inside his hut with his son when an allegedly drunk Bowon came knocking at their door at 10 p.m. Monday. Bowon reportedly came to his house to vent his ire at Mariano who sold a cellular phone that a friend had pawned to him. Mariano said Bowon was interested in the phone. But after he failed to get money to pay for it, he had to sell it to another buyer.
Bowon pulled out a pistol and fired at Mariano. Mariano jumped out of the hut but he sustained a gunshot wound on his left leg.
Jerwin wasn’t as lucky. After he failed to kill Mariano, Bowon turned his attention to the boy. Bowon fired six times at Jerwin and then fled.
Mariano said that as he was fleeing, he heard the cries of his son and the gunfire that followed.
“Ang ako last nadungog sa akong anak kay ‘ayaw.’ Wala na gyud nako nadungog siya sunod ato (I heard my son cry out, “No!” That was the last thing I heard him say),” Mariano said.
The father and son were brought to the Talisay District Hospital, but Jerwin died before receiving treatment.
Hours after the incident, Bowon was arrested by police inside his house in Sitio Kalinao in San Roque, Talisay City.
Bowon said that at the time of the incident, he was sleeping in his house. He admitted he was drunk at that time.
SPO2 Yvonne Illustrisimo said Bowon was reportedly planning to kill Mariano’s friend, a certain “King.” Illustrisimo said “King” would reportedly sleep in Mariano’s hut from time to time.
Dennis Paner, 49, who was Jerwin’s foster father, was saddened by the boy’s death. Paner said that before the incident, Jerwin didn’t want to leave their hut as he had a feeling that something would happen. “He said something was worrying him. I told him don’t sleep there,” Paner said. But Jerwin went home.
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