Mayor Loot hurt as gun accidentally went off

Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot (CDN FILE PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot was shot in the leg after a gun accidentally discharged on Wednesday night, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde said.

Albayalde said the incident happened around 8:40 p.m. in Barangay Lanao, where Loot was attending a wake.

Quoting the Cebu provincial police chief, Albayalde said Loot boarded the car of his former aide and saw a gun placed on the seat. Loot tried to keep the gun away when it accidentally went off, the PNP chief noted.

“Hindi niya alam daw na loaded ‘yung baril itinabi niya para siya ay makaupo, and then doon pumutok yung baril,” Albayalde said.

(He did not know that the gun was loaded, he tried to keep it away when the gun accidentally fired.)

The mayor is now recuperating at the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital, Albayalde said.

The police are still investigating if the gun is licensed, he added.

In May, Loot survived an ambush in Daanbantayan.

Sr. Insp. Adrian Nalua, chief of Daanbantayan town police, said Loot was visiting the wake of his supporter in Barangay Lanao on Wednesday night.

“The mayor was about to leave [the] wake on board the vehicle of Ret. Police Insp. Jose Ducay around 8:40 p.m.” when the incident happened, Nalua explained.

Loot sustained a bullet wound in his left leg and was initially rushed to Daanbantayan District Hospital for treatment.

Nalua said the firearm was not recovered during the inspection, and that investigators are now trying to find out who owns the gun.

Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura, a stepson of Loot, said they have yet to issue a press statement regarding the incident.        /kga