THE relief of the four drug enforcement unit (DEU) operatives allegedly involved in the death of four-year-old Skyler Abatayo was a development in the family's fight for justice.
Celerina, Skyler's grandmother, said they now entrust the inquiry to the National Bureau of Investigation 7.
"Naa na nila tanan (They have everything). Gisalig na namo nila ang imbestigasyon," she told reporters during the wake of her 18th grandchild.
Camp Crame issued a statement that even if the DEU operatives of the Carbon police tested negative for gunpowder residue, an internal investigation is still being conducted.
"While the four DEU operatives were reportedly found negative in paraffin tests, we still could not totally discount their responsibility in the death of Skyler pending the final outcome of the investigation," it stated.
The police officers were subjected to a paraffin test last Thursday, two days after the boy was struck by a stray bullet and killed during an anti-drugs operation in Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita.
Neighbor Luisito Quijano, 33, said they heard strange noises from the boy's room the day after the incident.
"My younger sibling heard a boy crying and someone kicking the door. Skyler's mother said that he always liked to hit or kick the door and never knocked," Quijano said in Cebuano.
He said that no one was in the house because the family members were in the funeral home.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella visited the boy's wake and extended financial assistance to his mother Gwen Capuno.
Labella urged authorities to investigate the incident.
