A 43-YEAR-OLD suspected drug pusher who held a woman hostage was accidentally shot dead by a police officer in Barangay Panugnawan, Medellin, Cebu last Monday afternoon.
SPO2 Mamerto Gastador’s M16 rifle reportedly went off when suspect Gary Dejito Siazar tried to grab the firearm.
In a phone interview, the police officer claimed that the suspect was reportedly high on drugs when he committed the crime.
“Nag-amok man daw to siya (He allegedly went amok),” said Gastador.
He said that in an investigation it showed that Gary was allegedly involved in illegal drug trade.
When Gary was already down on the floor, his relative Jose Pepito allegedly fired at Gastador.
Gastador was not hit, but he suffered a cut in his hand when Gary allegedly tried to grab the policeman’s rifle.
Before Gary held the woman hostage, he allegedly hacked Maricel Quisen Lepiten, 24, and his father Porferio Cuervo Siazar, 64, at 1 p.m.
A sugarcane watchman reportedly saw Gary, who was holding a bolo, approached Lepiten and Porferio.
Lepiten and Porferio failed to notice Gary because they were planting sugarcane stems in a farm in Sitio Kolo, Panugnawan.
The watchman shouted at the victims to run away, which the victims heeded. Lepiten, however, stumbled giving Gary the opportunity to hack her several times in the different parts of her body.
Gary then attacked his father, who suffered a wound in the neck.
Fellow sugarcane farmers rushed Lepiten to the Bomedco Medical Hospital, while others brought Porferio to the Daanbantayan District Hospital. Both have been declared in serious conditions.
At this time, SPO2 Gastador was on his way to Daanbantayan Police Station after he filed a criminal complaint before a court in Bogo City. He was driving his own car.
He later received a call from a friend who informed him about the incident. Gastador was in Panugnawan when he got the call and decided to proceed to the area.
He saw Gary running around in the village, reportedly in his fit of rage.
Gastador said he did not fire a warning shot, but he chased Gary.
The suspect ran and went inside the house of his relative Renato Siazar.
Gary snatched an old woman sitting on a bench outside Renato’s house. Gastador negotiated with the suspect to let go of the woman.
The suspect, who was already armed with a knife, pushed the woman and tried to grab the M16 rifle from Gastador. The rifle reportedly went off while they were grappling for it. Gary was hit in the chest.
Pepito then came into the scene and shot Gastador using a sumpak, an improvised shotgun. When he failed to hit the police officer, he ran towards the sugarcane plantation.
The woman suffered a small cut in her right hand during the incident.