NBI to probe fatal shooting of two cops
The father of one of the policemen killed in last Saturday’s shooting inside the home of a mutual friend in sitio Eyha-Englis in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City called for an investigation.
He found it hard to believe that the two policemen, both cousins, had traded fatal shots after a drinking session.
“We’re asking the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to come in so that justice will be served for the death of my son. It’s up to the NBI what to do,” 55-year-old Victorio Gonzales said in an interview.
There were no witnessess in the room but friends were elsewhere in the house drinking or singing karaoke.
Initial autopsy results by the PNP-crime lab in Camp Sotero Cabahug, Cebu City showed that Gonzales’s son PO1 Anthony Gonzales was seated when he was shot in the upper left chest.
“The bullet’s downward trajectory showed the shooter was standing while Gonzales was seated,” Dr. Nestor Sator, PNP medico-legal officer, told reporters.
The bullet hit his aorta and right lung.
A re-enactment was made by police in the house of Nathalie Apostol, who hosted Gonzales and his fourth degree cousin PO1 Rey Gabutan and two fellow police officers.
Gabutan was shot in the right temple, nape, right arm and right chest.
NBI-7 Regional Director Antonio Pagatpat said two NBI agents were tasked to investigate the shooting.
Polygraph tests will also be done on Apostol, PO3 Arnel Palanas and PO2 Lejay Gumandal who were in the house during the shooting.
The service firearms of Palanas and Gumandal were turned over to the PNP Crime Lab for tests while the two of them underwent paraffin tests.
April Rose, Gonzales’s wife, said her husband was not supposed to meet Gabutan.
“Nagduha-duha to siya nga moadto sa Balamban kay maghatod sa drum corps, unya nausab man ang iyang huna-huna (He was having second thoughts in going to Balamban because he was supposed to fetch the drum corps but he changed his mind,” April Rose said.
Lyndon, Gonzales’s elder brother, said while his brother has a temper, he doesn’t have a belligerent attitude.
“Badlongon nako na siya usahay kay mada sa iyang temper kun naay makasuk-an (I would scold him sometimes because he would get carried away by his temper whenever he gets angry),” April Rose said.
Gonzales, who was assigned in Siquijor province, usually meets Palanas whenever he arrives in Cebu City because he’s familiar with him, April Rose said.
Palanas said they only consumed three big bottles of beer.
Gonzales and Gabutan were rushed to the Chong Hua Hospital where they died.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo, PRO-7 director, said both policemen violated the Commission on Elections (Comelec) restrictions on law enforcement officers.
Under a Comelec resolution, police officers are only allowed to carry guns while in uniform. /Ador Vincent Mayol and Chito Aragon
