Rookie cop kills drinking buddy

A rookie policeman assigned in Quezon City shot dead a neighbor during a drinking session in Navotas the other night.

The suspect, PO1 Romeo Tayag, 28 of Kapitbahayan, Dagat Dagatan, Navotas, surrendered to his superiors and insisted that the shooting was "just an accident."

Tayag, detailed at the Central Police District-Station 11 (Galas) is now in the custody of the Navotas police and will be charged with homicide for killing his neighbor, Rommel Borromeo, 24, a laborer.

Borromeo suffered a gunshot wound in the forehead and died while being taken to Tondo General Hospital.

Witnesses said that Tayag, Borromeo and some other friends started the drinking spree at about 8 p.m. At the height of their drinking, Tayag allegedly pulled out his service firearm, a .45 caliber pistol and showed the gun to all his pals.

At first, Borromeo expressed fear that the deadly weapon might accidentally go off and asked the policeman to put his gun away.

Heeding the advice, the rookie policeman removed the gun’s magazine, after which he poked the gun at Borromeo, saying all the bullets had been removed.

To prove that the gun had no ammunition, Tayag pulled the trigger and a shot rang out. Borromeo fell bloodied to the ground. – Cecille Suerte Felipe