Man shot dead for resisting cops serving search warrant; wife claims he didn’t own a gun

A drug suspect was shot dead on Thursday in Caloocan City when he allegedly fired at policemen trying to arrest him although his family said he did not even own a gun.

According to the report of the Northern Police District, a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit and Caloocan Police Community Precinct 12 went to the house of Noel Pineda on Libis Talisay Street in Barangay 12 around 2 a.m. and tried to serve him with a search warrant.

The report claimed that he took out a gun and fired at the law enforcers.

But his wife, Lala, said that the policemen had barged inside, woke them up and forced her and their two children to leave the house.

As they were standing outside, she said they heard five successive gunshots followed by two more.

The Inquirer went to the Caloocan Regional Trial Court Branch 131, which issued the search warrant on May 7, but the court declined to give any information about the document.

“They are making a fool of us. I am mad because they killed my husband,” Lala said. “Those animals treated my husband like a pig.”

She added that Pineda, a 47-year-old construction worker, was released from the Caloocan City Jail on Feb. 15, after his case for possession of drug paraphernalia was dismissed. He was arrested in October 2015.

As far as Lala knows, her husband was no longer using drugs and he did not own a .38-caliber firearm either. The police said they found such a gun at the scene.

“Using a .38-caliber gun is old news. Why can’t they plant a .45-caliber? Is that too expensive?” Lala said.

She added that when she saw her husband in the morgue, there were three gunshot wounds on his chest and two more on his lower torso.