Passerby  hit by stray bullet in a police-armed man scuffle for gun possession 

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — A tricycle passenger was wounded when he was hit by a stray bullet fired from a policeman’s service firearm as the cop scuffled for his gun’s possession with another person in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City  on Monday, October 14.

Alex Binolirao, 21, happened to be just passing through the area on board a tricycle past 4 p.m. on Monday when he was hit by the stray bullet, according to Police Master Sergeant Rudy Anagap of the the Hoops Dome Police Station in the city.

Binolirao, 21, was on is way home to Wood Groove Subdivision in Barangay Gun-ob when a loud burst of gunfire was heard as the tricycle he was riding was passing near a barbecue establishment along S. Osmeña Street.

Binolirao felt numbness in his right arm and later found blood oozing from it. He was immediately brought to the city-run Lapu-Lapu City Hospital and was later transferred to a private hospital in Mandaue City.

It was later learned that  a traffic policeman, identified as Staff Sergeant Chrismar Lim of the Hoops Dome Police Station, was passing through the area when he chanced upon a commotion inside the barbecue establishment involving an alleged armed person.

But as soon as he introduced himself to the suspect, identified as Nelson Moradas, the latter grabbed the firearm that the policeman was holding down on his hand. In the ensuing scuffle for possession of the gun, it went off and hit Binolirao.

Moradas, 32, a resident of Sitio Baican in Baranagy Gun-ob, was eventually arrested. Police recovered from him a replica of .45 caliber pistol. He is currently detained at Hoops Dome Police Station pending the filing of violation of RA 10591 or the illegal possession of firearm.

Lim, meanwhile, promised to help shoulder the medical expenses of Binolirao. /elb