Repatriated NegOcc seaman holds ma hostage

Photo from Alice Chilton
Photo from Alice Chilton

BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA

BACOLOD City – A repatriated seafarer was arrested for taking his 73-year-old mother hostage in Barangay 4, Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

The Victorias police did not disclose the 33-year-old man’s identity but said the latter could be under the influence of illegal drugs.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Corpuz, city police chief, said they responded to the suspect’s house on Magsaysay Street after hearing three gunshots around 7 p.m. on Sept. 25.

The suspect’s house was only about 200 meters away from the police station.

Corpuz said the suspect fired a sniper rifle three times and refused to let go of his mother.

He added that the suspect had not slept for several days allegedly over problems with his former girlfriend.

The stand-off between the suspect and police lasted until at 11 p.m. Negotiators found a way to convince the suspect to come out by having the seaman’s ex-girlfriend contact him on the phone.
The conversation between the estranged lovers lasted for some 30 minutes, with the seafarer eventually agreeing to come out of the house.

Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team subdued the suspect.

The seaman was repatriated on Aug. 26 and was placed on quarantine for two weeks. He was supposed to stay in the country for just three weeks.

During the period, Corpuz said, the suspect had a hard time managing his temper and seemed to be hallucinating while under police interrogation at the Victorias police station.

Authorities recovered a spent shell of a .308 gun and 22 live bullets, a Remington sniper rifle loaded with two live bullets, live bullets of a .22-caliber gun, a live bullet of 5.56-caliber pistol, and a sachet of suspected shabu.

The suspect could be facing a string of charges including illegal gun possession if he could not show pertinent papers for his firearms./PN

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