PNP says bullet in boys' body came from police officer's gun
The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said one of bullets recovered from the body of a 16-year old boy who died in a drug operation in Laguna last week came from the gun of a police officer.
Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said results of a ballistics examination by the fact-finding task group of Calabarzon police of the slugs taken from the body of the victim matched with a cal. 45 gun issued to a police senior master sdergeant.
A bullet recovered from the body of drug suspect Antonio Dalit matched the .45 caliber pistol issued to a police commissioned officer based on the report of the Calabarzon police crime laboratory, said Eleazar.
A total of 11 firearms were submitted for ballistics examination and cross-matching.
Eleazar said the 16-year-old and the alleged suspect had two gunshot wounds and tested positive for gunpowder nitrates during paraffin tests of their bodies.
He said while the identity was established still to be determined is whether there wasan exchange of gunfire between police operatives and the two.
Eleazar added that another primary focus of the fact-finding task group is to look into allegation the teenager was handcuffed when he was shot.
“There’s a presumption of regularity in the conduct of this operation, unless there are witnesses who could corroborate that there was no exchange of gunfire and that (the alleged suspect) was handcuffed when he was repeatedly shot as claimed by the relatives,” he said.
Eleazar said no witnesses have surfaced to substantiate the allegations.
“Our Internal Affairs Service investigators went to the house of the relatives to console their families and to ask for their statements of the incident, together with their witnesses but they refused,” he said.
Eleazar said it was concerning there seemed to be many witnesses to the incident in the video uploaded on social media, based on audible chatting on the video’s background, but none ere coming forward to give their statements.
He said the latest development on the case is proof the PNP is serious in finding out the truth behind the incident. Ella Dionisio/DMS
