BATANGAS CITY, Philippines—A 10-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed her younger sister while they were playing “baril-barilan” or “cops and robbers” at their home in Lipa City, Batangas, police said Saturday.
Superintendent Alexander Mariano, Lipa City police chief, said that at about 2 p.m. on Friday, the sisters Rea, 5, and Rica, 10, (not their real names) were playing in the bedroom while their parents were busy at the kitchen.
Rica took the shotgun from under the bed, aimed and pulled the trigger, hitting Rea on the head.
Eduardo, the common-law husband of the girls’ mother and father of Rea, rushed to the bedroom when he heard the shot and found Rea lifeless on the bed.
Mariano said Rica has been turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the city while the case was being investigated.
Under existing child welfare laws, minors involved in crimes have no criminal liability but have to be turned over to the DSWD for processing and counseling.
Rea’s father, however, will be made liable for the unlicensed firearm that the children found, said Mariano.
He added the police would recommend charging the father with illegal possession of firearms since the 12-gauge Winchester shotgun was not licensed.
He said the police also still had to establish who owned the shotgun as the children’s family was simply renting the house. But since the weapon was found in Eduardo’s domicile and under his bed, appropriate charges would have to be filed against him, said Mariano.