Boy, 15, shot dead in Caloocan

MANILA, Philippines — A 15-year-old boy who dropped out of school to work as a barker and help his family was shot dead near the Bonifacio Monumento in Caloocan City Monday night.

Justine “Macky“ Mercado was calling for passengers for a jeepney along Rizal Avenue Extension in front of Fairmart supermarket in Barangay 71 at around 6:30 p.m., when motorcycle-riding assailants came up behind him and shot him in the nape.

The bullet went through the boy’s mouth and shattered his teeth, according to the boy’s mother Josie Lasiste when reporters interviewed her at the wake of her son.

Macky’s kin tagged a vendor as the suspect in shooting Macky. The suspect, only identified as “Obet,“ had apparently accused the boy of hoarding cell phones snatched from passengers in the area.

Lasiste denied that her son was involved in crime. Barangay 71 chairman Antonio Duran said Macky was not part of the drug watchlist.

Lasiste, whose husband died in an accident seven years ago, said her son wanted to be a policeman, but dropped out of school two years ago to help his family make ends meet.