Murder complaint filed vs Manila cop in teen’s slay

Fr. Flavie Chalaf comforts Allan, the father of Aldrinne Pineda, during Wednesday’s funeral mass for the slain teenager, whose last words to his father were: “Pulis yung bumaril sa akin (A cop shot me).” —Contributed photo

The Manila Police District (MPD) on Thursday filed a murder case against the policeman who shot and killed 13-year-old Aldrinne Pineda.

PO2 Omar Malinao of the Raxabago police station in Tondo, Manila, was charged in the City Prosecutor’s Office.

Pineda, a Grade 6 student, was with his friend, Marc (not his real name), near the Vitas Slaughterhouse around 8 p.m. on March 2 when he was shot in the stomach by Malinao who was reportedly chasing a group of metal scrap looters.

Since December, policemen have been assigned to the area near the slaughterhouse because of rampant looting, shooting incidents and other criminal activities. The facility was just 15 meters away from the tenement building where Pineda lived.

The teenager died in the hospital the next day but before he did, he told his father that it was a policeman who had shot him.

No one has positively identified Malinao as the one who shot the teenager because, according to witnesses, the shooter was wearing a black face mask. However, after Pineda’s death, the policeman came forward and admitted that he had fired his gun by accident after he tripped.

Senior Insp. Rommel Anicete, MPD homicide division chief, said the case against Malinao was based solely on circumstantial evidence, including the policeman’s admission that he had fired his gun and the ballistic test results which showed that the casing found at the crime scene had come from his gun.

Pineda was laid to rest on Wednesday afternoon at Manila North Cemetery. During the funeral, his friend, Marc, told the Inquirer that he and Pineda were watching people play at the slaughterhouse that night when they saw a policeman chasing kids who were mocking him.

Although they could not see his face because of the mask, they knew he was a policeman because of his pants, belt and gun holster.

Marc said the policeman did not give any warning and “just fired his gun.” Everyone ran away except for Pineda who realized that he had been shot in the abdomen. Marc also denied he and Pineda were among the looters.