Police carry the body of a suspected thief who was accidentally shot by his cohorts while trying to escape being caught. CDN Digital photo | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The identity of the man who was accidentally shot dead by one of his cohorts while they were attempting to rob a house in barangay Basak Pardo here on Wednesday dawn, February 16, 2022, remains unknown.
Police said they still have no information about the identity of the man and are still waiting for some relatives to approach them and claim the body.
A gunshot wound on the right portion of the man’s face caused his death.
Police Corporal Jaymos Tordios, an investigator on the case, said that while they have no leads on the identity of the man, they are working on finding and identifying the at-large accomplices, who immediately escaped after the incident.
Tordios said that based on the accounts disclosed to them by the owner of the house, Rafael Smith Ocampo Jr., the suspected thief was shot by one of his accomplices while trying to rescue him during a commotion with the owner.
According to Tordios, the owner noticed the presence of the three suspected thieves at around 1 a.m. He reportedly saw the three escape after sensing that he was awake.
Ocampo reportedly stayed up after that incident as he was expecting them to come back. According to Tordios, the owner said he believed the three men were estimated to be 18 to 20 years old.
Around 3 a.m., the three did come back. Ocampo was up when they returned. He allegedly was able to collar one of the suspected thieves, leading to a commotion.
“Na hold ang usa sa tulo ka suspetsado, unya nag ka commotion ni kadyot unya ni rescue tong duha. Supposedly, ang pusilon siguro kay ang tag iya sa balay pero ang naigo kay ilang kauban,” Tordios said.
(He was able to grab on to one of the suspects and then a commotion happened with the two others trying to rescue their companion. Supposedly, they were going to shoot the owner but instead, they shot their companion.)
Tordios said that one of the three suspected thieves was armed with an improvised shot gun. Since this was improvised, Tordios believes this did not function properly.
“Kining improvised shot gun, wa bitaw klarong direction since improvised man,” he said.
(This improvised shot gun, it doesn’t really shoot at the right direction since it is improvised.)
Tordios said that this could be reason why their cohort was hit instead.
Police said the suspected thief who was shot dead was wearing a black and yellow-colored shirt paired with shorts.
Tordios said they are not discounting the possibility that several individuals, mostly minors aged 16 to 19, have started to form a group to commit illegal activities in the city. But he said they are not highly organized.
“Mura lang nagka grupo, nagka barkada lang ba,” Tordios said.
(It’s just like they got together, became a group of friends.)
/bmjo
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