Cop shoots dead noisy neighbor

Heaven seems to be frowning on policemen these days.

For the fourth day in a row, another Cebu policeman, the 12th, is in the news, this time for shooting to death a neighbor in Danao City.

PO3 Renato Prieto, who is assigned at the Cebu Provincial Police Office in Cebu City, shot a certain Edgar Perez in barangay Cogon-Crossing Saturday afternoon after a heated exchange of words.

Prieto said the killing was an accident, that he had no intention of shooting Perez.

He said the gun went off when Perez grabbed it and a scuffle for its possession ensued.

Prieto said he just got home from Cebu City that day and was trying to rest when the noise from a bunch of neighbors gambling irritated him.

Prieto said he admonished his neighbors to stop the game of " hantak " or he will be compelled to arrest them.

Feeling affronted when his admonition was ignored, Prieto confronted them and a verbal exchange ensued between him and Perez.

According to the policeman, Perez suddenly grabbed the .45 caliber pistol that was tucked in his waist and they fought for possession of the gun.

In the midst of the scuffle, Prieto said, the gun went off and the single bullet hit Perez on the chest, killing him then and there.

SPO1 Rodrigo Roble of the Danao City police said Prieto surrendered after the incident and turned over the gun.

Prior to Prieto's becoming the the 12th policeman to get into trouble in Cebu the past four days, 11 others found themselves implicated in a variety of offenses.

The first was a Talisay City policeman who was caught along with several other people last Wednesday after allegedly trying to swindle a Manila woman and her son of P5 million with a fake golden Buddha.

On Thursday, eight policemen in Consolacion were implicated by the NBI in alleged extortion activities in that town. The NBI is expected to bring charges against the eight today.

On Friday, a policeman was caught in Liloan allegedly supervising the unloading of allegedly smuggled logs from Surigao.

A second policeman at the scene, while not arrested in the raid, was implicated just the same and is expected to be among those to be charged, also today.

Prieto is the only one of the 12 policemen who is in the news because of a violent incident.

The series of controversies hounding policemen appears to have emboldened Cebu provincial police director Vicente Loot to go after more erring law enforcers.

Loot said he is going to cleanse the provincial police of scalawags and warned those who will be caught that he is not just seeking their transfer but will move for their dismissal from service.