ILOILO City – Did a police officer deliberately shot himself in the head? Or did his gun accidentally go off?
The police station of La Paz district is investigating the death of 43-year-old Police Staff Sergeant Jerry Bayabay on Christmas Day.
Bayabay sustained a gunshot wound in the head in his house in Barangay Alalasan, La Paz.
Family members claimed hearing a loud thud then a burst of gunfire upstairs around 9 p.m. They checked and found Bayabay on the floor bleeding on head.
They took Bayabay to the Iloilo Mission Hospital also in La Paz. He died there.
Bayabay was assigned at the Iloilo Police Provincial Office. His wife Ruth told investigators Bayabay went upstairs after cleaning his short firearm.
Aside from the gunshot wound on the head, Bayabay also had a wound on his right foot. Probers theorized the cop may have tripped himself badly and fell on the floor, resulting to his gun accidentally going off and hitting him in the head.
La Paz police chief Major Val Ladublan said the family themselves believed what happened was accidental firing./PN
