Policeman ‘shoots’, hurts bar customer

A policeman accidentally shot and wounded a former seaman after he fired a shot at a group of men who allegedly mauled him inside a resto-bar in barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City, at dawn yesterday.

SPO1 Michael Lima-Lima, assigned at the Mactan Police Station, surrendered to responding police and turned over his service firearm, a .9mm pistol.

Lima-Lima was placed under camp restriction at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office after the incident.

Rene Bryan Godinez, 26, a resident of barangay Casili, Mandaue City, has executed an affidavit for the possible filing of charges against Lima-Lima, said PO2 John Carlo Jocutan, investigator of the Mactan police.

Police said Lima-Lima was off duty when the shooting incident happened inside the Zeus Restor Bar.

Police said while Lima-Lima and his friends were drinking when a group of men from a separate table approached him and started mauling him.

Police said the policeman’s attackers ran when they saw Lima-Lima draw a gun.

Some customers who saw the commotion also ran together with the policeman’s attackers.

Police said Lima-Lima fired a shot at his fleeing attackers but hit Godinez instead.

Godinez, who was wounded in the buttocks, was rushed to the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital.