- SHIELA G. GELERA
An unidentified man entered the rented house of a couple and shot them while they were sleeping in Purok Sigay, Barangay 2 in Bacolod City at about 6:30 a.m., Feb. 16.
Killed was Rahnz Morre Banias, 29, of Barangay Banago , while his partner Mary Liza Pahamutang, 36, of Barangay 2, was wounded, a report from Bacolod City Police Office said.
Banias was rushed to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival by attending physician Gabrielle Vasquez.
He succumbed to gunshot wounds on his right arm, head and back, the police said.
Pahamutang, meanwhile, sustained a gunshot wound in the left eye and in the back. She was brought to the Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital.
Investigation showed that Banias and Pahamutang were asleep when the assailant entered their rented house and without any apparent reason, shot them several times with an unknown caliber of firearm.
Their neighbors told the police that they even heard Pahamutang pleading to the gunman not to shoot Banias.
The suspect was described to be of slim built, and wearing a bicycle helmet, blue sweatshirt, and long pants.
He jumped from the second floor of the couple’s house and escaped on foot along the narrow pathway going east of Purok Sigay.
Recovered from the crime scene were five fired cartridges and a dud bullet, police records show.
The police could not still determine the getaway vehicle of the suspect.
Banias and Pahamutang, whom their neighbors said to have no enemies, have stayed at their rented house for only two months. The boarding house is owned by a former councilman of Barangay 2.
The police said that the former live-in partner of Banias was arrested by personnel of Station 2 in an anti-illegal drugs operation last year.
However, probers are still investigating to determine the motive of the incident. – SGG
