CEBU, Philippines - A man, who was trying to flee from pursuing policemen, died when a hand grenade he was reportedly about to hurl to the lawmen exploded after he fell into a ditch in Sitio Tigbao, Talamban, Cebu City around noontime yesterday.
The fatality was identified as a certain Junjun Navarro of legal age from the town of Aloguinsan in southwestern Cebu.
The police are still checking the identity of the fatality.
Chief Insp. Michael Anthony Beltran, chief of Talamban Police Station, told The FREEMAN that they received an armed person alarm from a concerned citizen an hour before the incident.
Beltran said he took with him a five-man team to respond to the alarm.
When the policemen arrived at the area, they saw four men near the entrance of a vacant lot reportedly owned by the Lhuillier family.
After one of the policemen told the group who they were, the four men scampered in two directions.
Two fled towards the main road while Navarro and Virgillo Makiling, 62, a carpenter who also hails from Aloguinsan, ran toward the other side of the lot.
The police said that it was a brief, but tough chase because of the hilly terrain.
The two men were heading towards Maryville Subdivision, but a 15-foot perimeter wall with a barbed wire top guard prevented them from getting through.
Beltran said that when they cornered the two men, Navarro pulled out a grenade from one of his pockets and faced the policemen.
Probably sensing that the law enforcers would not let up, Navarro reportedly pulled off the safety pin of the grenade.
Police said that while he was trying to hurl the grenade, he slipped into a five-foot ditch and the grenade exploded after it fell.
Navarro’s left hand was completely severed while his left leg was blown into pieces.
Cop’s gun
Operatives from the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered a 9mm pistol registered under the name of SPO1 Boy Omaña of the Cebu City Crime Scene Investigation Unit from Navarro.
Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, head of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch, confirmed that the gun recovered by the suspect was registered under Omaña.
Garciano said the government-issued gun was reported stolen about a year ago in Barangay Labangon.
He said they are eyeing the possibility that Navarro might be a member of a robbery group, who is planning to target a bank near the travel agency where Maki-ling is currently working as a carpenter.
The police are also eyeing the possibility that Navarro might be involved in the recent robbery incidents in the Talamban during the previous weeks.
In a separate interview, Makiling said, he met Navarro a month ago and the fatality reportedly assisted him in his carpentry work.
He, however, said that Navarro wasn’t a regular worker as he would just come and go.
Makiling also admitted that Navarro just bought drugs worth P500 before the incident happened. —/NLQ (FREEMAN)