Dad of 9-year-old victim asks netizens’ help identifying road-rage shooter

A nine-year-old girl has ended up in intensive care after being shot by a still-at-large motorist in an incident of road rage, and her family has turned to social media to find him.

In a Facebook post shared by a family friend, the victim’s father recounted the incident, which happened at around 4 a.m. last Friday on M.H. Del Pilar St. in Barangay Bungad, Quezon City.

The incident was caught on closed-circuit television cameras.

The victim’s father said he and his wife were on their way to drop off their daughters at school for a field trip when they crossed paths with a white Hyundai sports utility vehicle (SUV).

“[The car’s] bright headlight directly blind[ed] my sight. So when the driver of the said SUV and I met side by side, I brought my window down and he did so too... I asked him politely and said... “Brod, pwede mo namang ibaba’—meaning dim his headlight. [But] he replied arrogantly, ‘eh, ano ngayon?!’” he said.

He added that while he was able to keep his cool, he was not able to stop himself from commenting how arrogant the driver of the Hyundai SUV was.

The victim’s father had just begun moving their car forward when the family heard three gunshots being fired in their direction.

“My wife told me to drive away fearing there would be more shots. A few seconds later, my youngest daughter shouted ‘Aray!’ Our other daughter told us there was blood [coming out] from her sister,” he said.

The father said that according to doctors, a bullet hit his daughter's liver and a kidney. She had to receive a blood transfusion during the operation.

In an interview aired Tuesday on “24 Oras,” the father that while his daughter is now in stable condition, he continues to be worried about her condition since she is still young.

“Nararamdaman [niya] yung sakit. Hindi ko alam kung anong mangyayari sa kanya pagkatapos nito dahil bukod sa tinamaan ang kanyang liver, malaki rin ang tahi sa kanya,” he said.

Since the day of the incident, the victim’s family has kept in touch with the police and barangay officials to gather more information about the alleged shooter.

Emmanuel Evangelista, the barangay’s executive officer, said in a separate report that an empty slug was recovered by a tricycle driver at the scene.

Based on the CCTV footage, Evangelista said, it was likely that the gunshots were fired by the SUV driver.

“Makikita sa video na mabilis talaga ang takbo niya [the SUV]. May mga humps pa sa daan pero mabilis siya,” he said.

The identity of the SUV’s driver remains unknown, and the victim’s father was not able to take a look at his plate number before the shooting occurred.

The vehicle’s plate number was also not visible in the CCTV footage.

As of Tuesday evening, the family friend’s post appealing for information regarding the Hyundai SUV’s driver has garnered more than 13,267 shares. — Xianne Arcangel/BM, GMA News