Woman accidentally hit by policemen

CEBU - A 73-year-old woman is now in critical condition after she was accidentally hit by a bullet from policemen implementing a warrant against a reported member of Bloods fraternity Tuesday night.

The victim, Epifania Casan, is struggling for life at the Sacred Heart Hospital after the bullet pierced her kidney.

Carbon police chief Pablo Cabildo said his men were in sitio Katangkongan in barangay Sambag 1 to arrest a certain Randolf Coronel for murder charges.

The team, composed of SPO1 Romeo Abellana, PO2 Reynaldo Labating and PO2 Christopher Sanchez, first went to Coronel’s residence in sitio Tumoy in Natalio Bacalso Avenue but they did not find the subject there. They subsequently proceeded to sitio Katangkongan upon information that Coronel was in the area.

Yet even before their bullet mistakenly hit Casan, the policemen committed the first error when they held a certain Nikki Guevarra, only to realize later that Coronel was just standing a few meters away. Seeing Guevarra being held, Coronel then hurriedly ran away, prompting the team to chase him through an alley.

A few seconds later, two gunshots were heard and the 73-year-old woman was found blooded. Casan reportedly is a resident in the area. For his part, Guevarra said he was very surprised when the team’s white Sportage bearing plate number YEN-660 stopped in front of him and the policemen alighted, poked a gun at him and advised him not to run. 

Coronel managed to elude arrest.

As of yesterday, Casan’s family said they do not intend to file charges, as long as the police would handle the victim’s hospital expenses.

City police director Patrocinio Comendador, nevertheless, said that should there be a need, the three policemen would be made to undergo a paraffin test to determine who among them fired their guns that night. — Rene U. Borromeo/JMO  (THE FREEMAN)