Bullet that killed boy fired from cop’s gun

SYMPATHIES AND SERMONS Metro police chief, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, comforts the mother of Gian Habal, who was hit by a stray bullet. He later berates Police Cpl. Rocky delos Reyes who is accused of shooting the victim. —photos by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The bullet that killed 6-year-old Gian Habal was fired from the gun owned by Police Cpl. Rocky delos Reyes, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director confirmed on Thursday.

Police Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said that based on advance information from the Philippine National Police’s  Crime Laboratory, the two shell casings and the deformed slug recovered from the crime scene in Barangay 178, Camarin, Caloocan City, matched those taken from the .45 caliber Shooters Elite pistol surrendered by Delos Reyes.

“The results of the ballistic exam strengthen our theory that he [Delos Reyes] was not involved in a gunfight,” Eleazar told the Inquirer.

Delos Reyes, a member of the Caloocan Central Police Station’s Administrative Holding Unit, was charged on Tuesday with murder, attempted murder and violation of the gun ban.

Suspect’s defense

He surrendered to authorities on Sunday evening, hours after he claimed he traded shots with a wanted drug suspect he had spotted on Mabini Street, Camarin.

A bullet, however, struck Habal in the forehead as he was playing in front of his house. He died shortly at Caloocan City North Medical Center.

The boy’s grandmother, 65-year-old Elsa Montañez, also accused Delos Reyes of shooting her in the foot when she tried to stop him from leaving the scene.

The policeman admitted shooting Montañez but not her grandson.

Eleazar said Delos Reyes did not have a permit to carry a gun from the Commission on Elections. His service firearm was confiscated in 2018 when he was charged with indiscriminate firing.

“He could be trigger-happy,” Eleazar said of the suspect.

Power with accountability

Even if the policeman really spotted the drug suspect who reportedly escaped, he should not have fired his gun, Eleazar added.

According to the NCRPO chief, even warning shots are now discouraged during police operations.

“Just because you’re chasing a criminal doesn’t mean you can shoot him,” Eleazar told the Inquirer, adding: “This should serve as lesson to other policemen. [They] have power but they also have accountability and responsibility.”

Eleazar and Police Col. Restituto Arcangel, Caloocan police chief, went to the wake of Habal on Wednesday to assure the boy’s family that the gunman would be jailed.

Eleazar also went to the detention center where Delos Reyes was being held and confronted him.

“You will be fired; you have no place in the PNP organization,” he told the policeman.