A ROOKIE policeman died after his service firearm accidentally went off while he was cleaning it at dawn last Sunday in his house in Barangay Kinasang-an Pardo, Cebu City.
PO1 Benjamin Pardillada, 24, was hit in the stomach. The bullet from his 9-mm service pistol exited his back.
Pardillada was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Witnesses Ariel Matas and Lario Jimenez told police that they were in the alley near the victim’s house playing with their cell phones at past 3 a.m. when they suddenly heard a gun fire.
When they checked, they saw Pardillada lying on the floor with a gunshot wound in his stomach.
SPO4 Rogelio Cañete of the Cebu City Homicide Section said his office and the Pardo police station are jointly investigating the incident to determine whether there was foul play.
Cañete said an autopsy will also be performed on the remains of the police officer.
Pardillada was on his first year as a policeman and was assigned at the Regional Public Safety Battalion.