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Saturday, December 29, 2007
Baby dies as cop's gun goes off
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- A three-year-old boy died of a gunshot wound in the chest when a police range officer's gun accidentally went off inside his rented room in Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, Cebu City shortly before noon Friday.
Shane Kent Bel Lunzaga was sleeping when the slug hit him. He didn't make it to the Cebu City Medical Center alive.
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The bullet also hit a woman, who is seven months pregnant, in her left leg. She was rushed to the Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.
Homicide Section Chief Mario Monilar identified the woman as Brenda C. Siarez, 34, live-in partner of PO3 Benjamin Herbias Jr., who owns the .357 revolver that went off in Sitio Quadrangle.
Herbias, a member of the "alert team" of the Cebu City Police Office Security and Service Group (SSG), surrendered to Senior Inspector Sarah Jean Recla, SSG deputy chief.
It was the second incident in the past six days in which a policeman hit a civilian in an accidental shooting.
Last Sunday, SPO1 Marcelo Querubin of the Security and Service Group fired his issued M16 Armalite rifle at the Guba barangay hall, hurting barbecue vendor Rodrigo Borbon.
Police operatives are under strict orders to guard against indiscriminate firing during the holidays.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said Herbias will be charged with serious neglect of duty.
As a licensed range officer, Herbias should have exercised caution to avoid such an accident, Comendador added.
"He is a range officer. He is more knowledgeable than anybody else, nagtudlo gud na siya (he even teaches). But accidents do happen," the police chief added.
Comendador said the revolver was Herbias's personal firearm, which he won during a shooting competition last year.
According to the initial investigation by a team of homicide investigators led by SPO4 Alex Dacua, the incident occurred at 11:40 a.m. inside Herbias's room on the second level of a two-story house in Lorega-San Miguel.
Herbias was preparing to report for work and was about to put his revolver in a pouch tucked in his waistband when Siarez opened the door from outside.
The door reportedly hit Herbias's hand, causing the policeman to accidentally pull the trigger.
The slug hit Siarez's lower left leg before it pierced through the wooden floor and hit the boy, who was sleeping on a bamboo bed at the lower level of the house.
Dacua said the slug hit the three-year-old's chest.
Herbias only realized that a boy was hit when he passed by the first level of the house to take Siarez to a hospital and noticed the commotion.
Dacua said that Herbias advised Lunzaga's mother, Vilma Entera, to follow him to the hospital with the boy.
At the hospital, Herbias surrendered to Senior Inspector Recla. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (December 29, 2007 issue)
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