Suspect in 8-year-old’s rape-slay kills self in Crame, police say

A man detained for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Nueva Ecija killed himself inside the national police headquarters on Tuesday, police said.

Hilario Herrera, 50, was on his way to the second floor of the detention cell of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) inside Camp Crame, when he snatched a policeman’s gun and shot himself on the head, said Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao, director of the Philippine National Police AKG.

The suspect and his escorts just came from an inquest proceeding at the Department of Justice in Manila when the incident happened at 8:55 p.m.

Dumlao said the two police escorts of Herrera have already undergone a paraffin test as part of the investigation. They were identified only as PO1 Chaluyen and PO3 Parafina.

“Sinurrender firearm and motu propio naman ‘yang IAS (Internal Affair Service) will come in. We always assume naman ‘yung regularity. If may negligence on their part, let IAS come in,” Dumlao said.

(The firearm the victim used was surrendered, and it’s expected moto propio for the IAS to come in. We always assume regularity, but if there’s negligence on the (police’s) part, we’ll let the IAS come in.)

Herrera was arrested last July 19 for the rape and murder of a girl whose lifeless body was found in a cemetery. Frances Mangosing/IDL