A 16-year-old girl died in Maasin, Iloilo yesterday after she was shot multiple times by her mother’s live-in boyfriend after fighting over a cellphone.
According to Maasin Police, the suspect, 38-year-old Jerold Guillermo, insisted on reading the victim Allejah Faye Malificiar’s messages but could not because the phone was password protected.
Bombo Radyo reported that Guillermo apparently wanted to see who the girl was talking to.
“The two each tried to get a hold of the phone, which then escalated to a fight,” Maasin Police Chief Joseoswald Gatuslao told ABS-CBN News in Filipino.
The victim’s friends told Bombo Radyo that the man was very strict with his stepdaughter and regularly abused her. They also said that Malificiar had tried to commit suicide in the past.
Her mother, who had been living with Guillermo for 10 years, reportedly tried to grab the gun from the suspect but was unable to.
She also told her daughter to run away but the suspect caught the victim in the kitchen, where she was shot in the head, chest, and hand.
Malificiar was immediately brought to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival, RMN Iloilo reported.
The suspect escaped but authorities said he will be charged with murder.
