CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — An eight-year-old boy was wounded and a taxi damaged after a disgruntled laborer and his uncle fired a shotgun and hurled a grenade at the house of a construction foreman near Lumbia Air Base Sunday evening.
Police Col. Dexter Paje, chief of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, identified the suspects as Arnold Bacarro, a laborer, and his uncle Noel Bacarro of Sitio Km 8, Barangay Lumbia.
Initial investigation showed the suspects went to the house of foreman Allan Albecio looking for the contractor who allegedly failed to pay the younger Bacarro’s salary for construction work near the airbase, an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement site.
When the foreman could not provide the contractor’s address, Noel Bacarro allegedly fired a shotgun, forcing the foreman to take cover inside his house and call the police.
The suspects left on a motorcycle but returned about 30 minutes later, this time brandishing a grenade while again demanding the contractor’s location.
Police officers were already approaching the area when the suspect lobbed the grenade, which exploded inside the compound.
The blast wounded an eight-year-old boy in the leg and damaged a parked taxi.
The child was rushed to Northern Mindanao Medical Center for treatment.
The suspects fled on a motorcycle and authorities have launched a manhunt operation.