By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – A clash between two groups of young men turned deadly when a 23-year-old was killed and four others, including two minors, were injured in a brawl at Sto. Rosario, Barangay Guimbala-on, Silay City, Negros Occidental, on Sunday, October 13.
Police identified the fatality as Jake Sombria, a resident of Barangay Guimbala-on.
The injured included Jake’s 19-year-old brother, Jay Mark Sombria; 20-year-old Keil Emerich Gardoce; and two minors, aged 15 and 16, all from Barangay Guimbala-on.
Police Major Rhea Villanueva, deputy chief of the Silay City Police Station, said the two groups attended a benefit dance. After leaving the venue, an altercation broke out, leading to a fistfight. Both groups were reportedly intoxicated.
“They were mocking each other,” Villanueva said.
One of the suspects, a 17-year-old boy, allegedly stabbed Jake with a knife.
When Jake’s companions saw him wounded, they confronted the suspect, but they were also reportedly stabbed, Villanueva added.
The victims were rushed to a hospital with injuries to various parts of their bodies, but Jake was pronounced dead.
Police arrested six suspects, aged 13 to 20, from Barangay Bagtic. They had hidden in a sugarcane field and nearby houses in Barangay Guimbala-on.
However, the suspects were released after the lapse of the reglementary detention period.
Villanueva said a complaint for homicide and frustrated homicide will be filed against the 17-year-old suspect and his companions.
It will be up to the prosecutor to determine the involvement of the other suspects in the crime, Villanueva said.
She added that the two groups had previously been involved in altercations, but these incidents were only reported at the barangay level and not escalated to the police.
