Santa Cruz: Tragic shooting claims life of one resident with two injured

Santa Cruz: A 33-year-old resident of Upper Santa Cruz shot dead on Tuesday, July 9. The victim resident identified as Benji Emmanuel, was on his bicycle as the incident took place.

As per the reports received, Emmanuel was riding his bicycle near Villa Cruz Sports Bar at the Cantaro Village in Santa Cruz on July 9, 2024. At around 4 pm, a car drove up to him and an unidentified man got out of the vehicle and started firing random shots.

The assaulter having fired several shots at Emmanuel, then got back into the car and drove off in the blink of an eye. Two other individuals identified as Ritche and Rattie, were also caught up in the firing.

The residents of Upper Santa Cruz described the 33-year-old victim as a helpful person, passionate about guiding and leading the youth away from crime. They said that he was kind and was always willing to help anyone in need.

As the authorities reached the spot, number of people had already gathered around the scene. The police immediately initiated processing the crime scene and tucked the body covered in blood with a white sheet.

When asked, everyone only had good things to say about him. One of them stated that there was a time when Emmanuel helped him with US $3,000 without a question asked. Emmanual was always ready to help the elderly people.

According to some, he was going to organize a football competition that was to be held on July 13. But now with him gone, they were not sure if the competition is still going to be organized. He was always engaged in stuffs like this to help the youth to stay away from crime.

The victim’s brother was present at the crime scene, standing silent watching the police process the scene. On being asked about his brother he stated his brother as humble and a person away from crime, gangs and court matters.

Emmanuel’s brother and mother are not ready to deal with the fact of his death and are struggling to confront and endure that he is gone.