MANILA, Philippines — The circumstances that led to the death of a nine-year-old girl in Bulacan over the holidays have proven to be twice as tragic, as the family admitted that the victim’s own brother accidentally fired the killing gun shot.
This was revealed on Thursday by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in a statement sent to the media. The police said Jose Cruz, father of Lorena Santos Cruz, 9, admitted that the victim was hit when her brother Joel “accidentally discharged” his .22-caliber gun.
Earlier police reports stated Lorena was hit in the back by a stray bullet on Dec. 24 in Sitio Paco, Barangay San Mateo in Norzagaray, which caused her death.
But the Norzagaray police chief, Supt. Joel Estaris, said that when they interviewed the victim’s father, Jose ended up admitting the real story as he said he was being plagued by his “unbearable conscience.”
The family has surrendered Joel to the Norzagaray police. The police will file a complaint of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against Joel, Estaris said.
Estaris said investigators were still working to recover the gun in the accidental shooting.
Since Dec. 16, the PNP has tallied 12 stray bullet victims nationwide, which included Cruz, the lone fatality so far.
On Dec. 16, the first day of the PNP’s monitoring of stray bullet injuries over the holidays, a three-year-old was already reported injured, hit in the abdomen in Zamboanga del Norte.
Another minor, 12-year-old Josh Martin Bersolango, was also hit in the right foot on Dec. 27 in Silang, Cavite, the PNP reported on Thursday.
The latest of the stray bullet victims were identified as Joenel Osorio and Danilo Dinglasan, who were hit on Dec. 29 by a single bullet while onboard a jeepney Dinglasan was driving in Barangay Mapayapa, Calamba City, Laguna.
The PNP has also monitored eight incidents of illegal discharge of firearms, although only seven people have been arrested for it, including a policeman and a security guard.
The policeman was identified as Police Officer 1 Francis Nepomuceno Flake. Flake, 29, was found to have fired his service pistol illegally in front of a restaurant on M.H. Del Pilar in Malate, Manila last Dec. 22, the latest report from the PNP spokesperson, Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, showed.
Flake is assigned to the NCRPO Holding and Accounting Unit in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, where Metro Manila police with pending administrative cases are usually sent.
Flake’s indiscretion happened despite the Metro Manila police having taped over their firearms to show their commitment to their campaign against indiscriminate firing over the holidays.
Also arrested was security guard Jerry Masaoay Divina, 40, who was found to have fired his gun, repeatedly, on Dec. 26 in Barangay Villavieja in Pilar, Abra. Recovered from him was a loaded homemade handgun. Recovered from the scene were five fired cartridges from the gun.
Two suspects for indiscriminate firing over the holidays remain at large: A case in Barangay Baduang, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte against barangay chair Erol Cimatu Calivoso remains pending, although his own daughter submitted five fired cartridge cases from his gun as evidence.
Also still under investigation is the shooting last Dec. 22 in Barangay Maggalang in Sariaya, Quezon province, which left two injured. The suspect, Marianito Alob, fled the scene. SFM