12 teens wanted in fatal stabbing

About 12 teens are now the subject of a police manhunt after they, along with three other teens now under arrest, allegedly ganged up on a sleeping 20-year old, fatally stabbing him some 15 times dawn of Wednesday, February 21, in Barra Riverside, Barangay Macabalan.

The victim, identified as 20-year-old John Vincent Abarquez and a resident of Celrai, Puntod, this city, was reportedly sleeping at a make shift shed when he was supposedly attacked by the the minors.

The teens are reportedly members of a local gang and repeatedly threw stones and bottles to the victim before repeatedly stabbing him.

“Basin kining biktima naa pud ni ka-grupo pero nabulag lang siya,” Inspector Jessie Palencia, Police Station 5 deputy chief, told Sun. Star Cagayan de Oro.

Palencia said the suspects were aged 14-17 years old and members of so-called ‘Seagod of explosion’ group, also known in Macabalan as ‘Tandog Bulabog’.

Palencia said these teenagers hailed from barangays Macabalan and Consolacion and were also responsible of stoning incidents reported earlier in the police station’s jurisdiction.

“Mugna-mugna lang na nila nga grupo. Ang edad ana nila 14 to 17. Kung naay binatuha sila atong matumbok,”Palencia said.

Palencia also said the group is also involved in solvent sniffing in the area.

He said the group cannot be called yet as gang because they are not yet linked to major crimes in the city, adding “Matawag nato sila nga frat group or neighborhood group.”

Palencia theorized that grudges between groups may have been the motive of the killing, implying the victim may also be a member of another group.

“Posible away sa grupo ang motibo,”Palencia said.

Three of the 15 suspects arrested will be charged with murder, even as Palencia said it depends upon the court on how to handle the case since the suspects are still minors.