THE Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor has indicted for murder three people who allegedly shot dead a minor last Sept. 24.
Prosecutor Naruzen Delfin-Lorete found evidence to charge Michael Secretaria, 32; Gerald Flores, 20; and Daryl Abanto, 18; with murder before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court.
The accused allegedly “connived and mutually helped each other to kill, with treachery and evident premeditation” the victim, 14-year-old Jhun Carl Diada, said Lorete. Murder is a non-bailable offense.
Diada’s mother, Grace, filed the murder complaint before the City Prosecutor’s Office against the three accused.
Grace, 32, of Barangay Duljo, Cebu City, said that her son was shot dead by the accused in Barangay Pasil at 3:30 a.m. last Sept. 24.
In her affidavit, Grace said she was sleeping inside their house when she heard her son’s girlfriend kept calling her in the wee hours of Sept. 24.
Grace said he got up from her bed and opened their door and saw his son’s girlfriend and his friends, who informed her that his son was shot by four armed men.
The victim’s friends told Grace that they were having conversation when four armed men approached them last Sept. 24.
One of the armed men asked the victim, “are you a drug pusher, boy?” When Jhun Carl replied in the negative, the accused shot him several times and fled.
The victim’s girlfriend said she embraced Jhun Carl and called for help from neighbors.
One of the accused, Abanto, even returned and shot the victim again in his cheek.
The victim’s friends rushed him to the hospital on board a pedicab, but was declared dead on arrival.
The police chased the suspects, leading to the shooting to death of one of the suspects, Rolando Secretaria.
The three other accused fled but later surrendered to the chairman of Barangay Ermita.
Police also seized a 9mm pistol with five bullets, a .357 revolver with five bullets, and a .38 caliber pistol with four bullets.