BACOLOD CITY – Police are investigating the deaths of a cop and his friend during their drinking session in Barangay 21, Victorias City, Negros Occidental, last Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Mary Rose Pico, city police chief, identified the fatalities as Patrolman Dionel Lutao, 26, of Barangay 1, who was assigned to the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-6 in Iloilo, and James Karl Sernal, 26, of Barangay 6.
Pico said Lutao and Sernal were having a drinking session with their two other friends in the house of a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman, who is also their friend, when the incident happened.
Pico said Lutao was on an emergency pass when he went home in the province for the holiday.
Pico said nobody really witnessed how the incident happened since their two friends were doing something. They were just surprised to see Sernal with a lone gunshot wound in the head while Lutao ran outside the house, she added.
One of their friends then heard three gunshots. When he came out to check, he saw Lutao already lying on the ground with blood on his mouth, Pico said.
Lutao and Sernal were rushed to a hospital, where they were both declared dead.
Police recovered from the scene three live bullets and five empty shells of Lutao’s issued Glock 17 .9mm gun.
When asked if there was foul play on the incident, Pico said she could not confirm anything yet.
“We cannot yet tell if Sernal died of accidental firing and if Lutao committed suicide after what happened,” she added.
Pico also said that nobody was seen outside the SK chairman’s house when Lutao was found dead based on the statements of their neighbors.
All four of them underwent a paraffin test.
She also said that the victims’ two friends were being considered as persons of interest while investigation is ongoing. (Glazyl Masculino)
