A suspected thief was killed after he reportedly ran and tried to shoot his arresting policeman who quickly opened fire and hit him in Happy Valley in barangay Guadalupe Sunday morning.
The fatality was identified as George Gabutin, 27, who has no known address but previously lived with his brother along Salvador Extension.
PO1 Noriel Luage immediately surrendered to his superior, Sr. Insp. George Ylanan, the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office.
He turned over his service firearm after bringing Gabutin to Cebu City Medical Center where the fatality was declared dead on arrival.
Police investigators said a neighbor of Luage identified as Ariel Marzon reported that Gabutina stole his electric grinder, prompting the policeman to look for the suspect in the area.
When Luage saw Gabutin with a knapsack walking in Happy Valley, he immediately arrested the suspect. But before he could completely handcuff Gabutin, the suspect reportedly quickly ran away in a bid to escape.
The suspect then allegedly pulled out a gun from his knapsack and tried to shoot Luage but his gun misfired. As Gabutin continued running, Luage tried to shoot him in the feet supposedly to disable him, but the suspect was hit in the back instead.
According to Homicide Section chief Mario Monilar, they would be filing charges for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide against Luage over the incident.
CCPO director Patrocinio Comendador told reporters that it would be up to the City Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether there is a probable cause to indict Luage.
Luage is now under the custody of the CIIB waiting for the result of the case filed against him.
Meanwhile, Gabutin’s brother Amadeo and his wife Rowena told reporters that they would not file charges against Luage since their brother had been a headache to them.
But they refused to comment on Luage’s claims that their brother tried to shoot the policeman that forced him to fire back, only asking assistance from the CCPO for the funeral expenses.
They claimed that Gabutin was jailed twice for sniffing rugby, adding that he left their house and loitered in the city gathering plastics and cans to sell in junk shops. — Edwin Ian Melecio/LPM