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Teenage boy in Pampanga shoots male lover before shooting self


UPDATED 4:30 p.m. - In an apparent suicide attempt, a 13-year-old boy shot himself after shooting his alleged male teenage lover inside a shopping mall in Mexico, Pampanga on Tuesday, the police said. GMA News Online is withholding the identities of the two victims because they are both minors. In an interview over radio dzBB, Pampanga provincial police director Senior Superintendent Edgardo Tinio said the two teenagers were seriously injured in the incident at the SM shopping mall in Pampanga. They were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and were in "critical condition," the police said. Asked if the two boys were in a relationship, Tinio said this seemed to be the case, based on what appeared to be the suicide note recovered from the shooter, who used a caliber-22 handgun. Superintendent Wilson Santos, chief of the Mexico town police, said it appeared to be "a crime of passion" as the shooter had written in the note that he was willing to die with the victim. Initial police investigation showed that the shooting happened at about 11:45 a.m Tuesday near one of the restaurants inside the mall. The 13-year old boy reportedly shot the other boy in the head before turning the gun on himself. In a separate interview with GMA News TV Live, Santos said they would subject the suspect to a paraffin test to determine if he was indeed the shooter, since the firearm was recovered from him. Statement from SM Supermalls The mall management briefly closed down the shopping center after the incident but eventually reopened it after investigators cleared the crime scene. In a statement read on GMA News TV Live, vice president for marketing of the SM Supermalls Millie Dizon said the company is conducting its own investigation on the incident. Dizon admitted that the mall's security had failed to detect the firearm from the shooter because it was too small. The gun was "smaller than the size of a palm" and could not be detected by their metal detectors, she said. "Security has been heightened. We are very vigilant when it comes to security," the statement said. Santos said local police authorities will be holding an emergency conference with SM security personnel. "Ang incidents like this na ganito may hand-held metal detector eh sa entrance. Kaya kailangan natin malaman kung may liability sila, yung security agency na nagbabantay at that time," he said. Second shooting incident at SM mall The shooting incident in Pampanga happened on the heels of a similar shooting that killed two people at another SM shopping mall in Quezon City. In the earlier incident, a woman identified as Sheila Macapugay, shot her husband before attempting to shoot herself last Sept. 15. A mall security guard, who tried to stop the woman from shooting herself, ended up getting shot instead. Both the woman's husband and security guard Ricardo Inamac II died in the hospital. Macapugay was detained at the Quezon City Police District Station 2 where she faces homicide charges. Investigators said the woman's husband had another woman. The illicit affair was cited as the reason why the woman shot her husband and attempted to take her own life. - with Candice Montenegro, VVP/YA, GMA News
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