Mother of ‘unarmed vendor’ killed by cop seeks justice

WHO will support the family now that their breadwinner is dead?

This was the lament of Angelina Gallego, mother of the street vendor who was shot dead by a policeman in barangay Bulacao, Cebu City, last Monday.

She said the killer of her 33-year-old son Primo Gallego Jr. should be punished.

Homicide charges were filed yesterday against SPO2 Cresente Dacillo in the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

The policeman, who is assigned in the Punta Princesa Police Station, said he acted in self-defense when he shot Gallego, a neighbor.

But a witness, another resident, said the victim was unarmed when he bought a can of sardines from the policeman’s sari-sari store.

Dacillo, who is detained in the Cebu City Police Office, was given until April 10 to submit his counter-affidavit.

Angelina said her son was a good provider of the family who sold food as a pongko-pongko vendor by day and go out to sea to fish at night.

On Sundays, Primo worked as a “kristo” or bet-taker in the Carlock cockpit.

Angelina said her son worked hard because he wanted to send his son to school.

The policeman’s account of a shoot out is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office.

Dacillo said he saw the vendor peeping into the store and shouted at him. The policeman claimed the vendor pulled out a gun and tried to shoot him but that the weapon malfunctioned.

He gave no clear reason why the shoot out occured.

A .45 caliber revolver was found by responding policemen under the victim’s body but the witness account of an unarmed Gallego raises the possibility that the gun was planted.  Correspondent Chito O. Aragon and Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol