KIS Katy Ramos, the 21-year-old graduating psychology student of the University of the Philippines Cebu, was finally laid to rest at the Pardo cemetery last Sunday, April 21.
Ramos was killed along with John Michael Hermoso, 29, on the night of April 10 when a man arrived at their workplace, the Good Cup Coffee Company on F. Ramos St., and started shooting.
Ramos was a cashier at the place. Hermoso, a champion barista and a managing partner of Good Cup Coffee Company, was her boss.
Two of her fellow employees, Jerome Amada and Sherwin Rivera, were also shot but they survived.
Hermoso was buried last Wednesday, April 17.
Police received information that he was the sole target of the attack, although Fuente Police Station Chief Eduard Sanchez did raise a good point. If the gunman was after Hermoso, why did he shoot the others?
As for the motive, well, there were only two possibilities. According to the police, it was either business or personal.
But it’s hard to believe that people would resort to killing over a cup of java. It’s not as if there’s a coffee bean cartel, or is there? I mean, stranger things have happened. It’s also possible that someone was jealous of Hermoso.
After all, the guy was talented. In fact, he was supposed to leave for Boston in the US to compete in the 2019 World Brewers Cup and World Barista Championship but his visa application was not processed on time. And just last month, he was declared 2019 Philippine Brewers Cup champion.
Then again, if that was the case, as Sanchez pointed out, why shoot the others?
I find it interesting that Hermoso and Ramos were both shot twice because that would suggest...
You know what, out of respect to the victims and their families and friends, I will stop playing amateur sleuth.
It’s not fair to them that I, who never met the victims, would be discussing their deaths like I was chitchatting about the weather.
But it has been 12 days since the incident and police still have nothing. Zilch.
With no motive and no suspect, people are bound to come up with their own theories on the shooting.
With that said, police were happy to declare the recently concluded Holy Week as “generally” peaceful.
Self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones was shot dead last Thursday, April 18, but that happened in Quezon City and local police still have to confirm if indeed it was him. Oh, there was that ambush in Samboan last Friday, which injured a cop and his sister, but they both survived.
A relatively quiet week, I have to agree. Short of a miracle, really.