A POLICEMAN accidentally shot a 15-year-old boy while responding to a theft alarm in barangay Canduman, Mandaue City last Sunday night.
PO3 Joel Osabel, a warrant server assigned at the Opao Police Station, is facing an investigation for the incident. He was asked to surrender his service firearm, a 9mm caliber pistol, as part of the investigation.
Osabel told investigators that his neighbor, Alex Destacamento, went to his house asking for help after his house was burglarized.
Destacamento said a television set and a DVD player were taken from his house.
Destacamento confronted two men whom he suspected to be behind the theft. A confrontation occurred between Destacamento and the father of one of the two men.
Osabel said at the height of the argument, one of the men tried to attack him that prompted him to fire a warning shot.
The policeman fired a shot to the ground but the bullet ricocheted and hit the foot of a boy.
The boy’s parents reported the incident to the Canduman Police Station.
Senior Insp. Neolie Laturnas, chief of the Opao police, said Osabel reported for work yesterday while awaiting for an order for a possible reassignment while the incident is being investigated.