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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Shootout: ex-con shot dead; 2 cops hurt
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- A shootout in Barangay Kinasang-an, Cebu City Wednesday afternoon left an ex-convict dead and two Cebu City policemen, including the controversial Senior Police Officer 1 Adonis Dumpit, wounded.
Dumpit of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) and SPO1 Joel Sanchez, miscellaneous team leader of the Pardo Police Station, however, were declared out of danger after taken to the Chong Hua Hospital.
Dumpit suffered a splinter wound in the forehead, while Sanchez was hit in the left side of his body.
The Cebu City Government will help pay for the hospital expenses of Dumpit and Sanchez.
"Dumpit responded to an alarm where a policeman was shot, and he was also shot. We'll give him assistance, not only him but the other policeman also. Whatever they need, it will be covered," said Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
The mayor went to Chong Hua Hospital past 3 p.m. to visit Dumpit.
Police identified the suspect as Roberto "Bito" Placer, who died of multiple gunshot wounds in his body and head minutes after reaching the emergency room of the Cebu City Medical Center.
Pardo Police Station Chief Alexis Relado told Sun.Star Cebu the incident occurred when a police team was dispatched to the interior portion of Sitio Lower Suran, Kinasang-an, after receiving a call for assistance about an armed person at 1:40 p.m.
The caller identified the suspect as Bito Placer.
Knowing that Placer was said to have a criminal record, Sanchez's team also brought a warrant of arrest for attempted homicide issued against the suspect by Municipal Trial Courts in Cities Judge Oscar Andrino last Nov. 24, 2005.
When the operatives arrived in the area, Placer who was at the house of his stepfather Santos Adarna, 65, allegedly tried to flee by jumping into the fence.
Police, however, cornered Placer. He allegedly whipped out his .357 Magnum revolver from his waistband and fired, while trying to flee.
Placer managed to run few meters away, then shot Sanchez when the policeman blocked his way. He kept running toward his neighbors' houses, some 100 meters away from his stepfather's house.
At this instance, Sanchez's companions called for a back up, which prompted operatives from the CIIB, Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat), Crime Suppression Unit, Theft and Robbery Section, Mobile Patrol Group and the Vice Control Section to rush to the scene.
CIIB Chief Pablo Labra II said Placer took shelter inside a house owned by Marissa Rosales, 46, who went outside to buy spices and vinegar.
Rosales, still clutching the goods, told Sun.Star Cebu that she was surprised when her neighbors warned her not to go to her house because Placer was inside.
Labra said Dumpit and SPO1 Conrado Allego, a Swat operative, went inside the house to arrest Placer.
As Dumpit entered the house, Placer allegedly fired his gun, hitting the upper handguard of Dumpit's M16 Armalite Rifle.
The slug got embedded in the rifle, but a splinter hit Dumpit's forehead.
Another shootout occurred. When the smoke cleared, a wounded Placer was rushed out from the house and brought to the city hospital.
Homicide investigators and personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) recovered Placer's revolver loaded with three bullets and three empty shells, 12 M16 empty shells, and two empty 9mm shells.
Placer's stepfather, Adarna, said Placer arrived in his house at 1 p.m. yesterday.
He said he even warned Placer not to come to his house because several people were looking for him.
Adarna became more worried when he saw the .357 Magnum tucked under Placer's waistband.
Adarna said Placer, who is in his 40s, once served a jail term at the National Bilibid Prisons for a robbery case and was released in 2004.
Wednesday's incident was the second case of policemen getting shot in an operation in less than a week.
The first incident occurred in Lapu-Lapu City when a policeman from Mandaue City was shot during a bungled drug operation in Barangay Mactan last Sunday night.
PO2 Jose Bob Zambo Desamparado died of a gunshot wound in the left side of his chest after suspect Carl Rasid Villacin, 28, allegedly shot him. His two fellow policemen from Mandaue were unscathed.
The bungled operation is now the subject of an investigation.
Lapu-Lapu City Police Station Chief Louie Oppus got irked upon learning of the incident, because the Mandaue City policemen did not coordinate with his office. (With LCR/Sunnex)
(March 23, 2006 issue)
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