NORZAGARAY, Bulacan – A police officer assigned in this town is now fighting for his life when he was shot by an alleged drug peddler he and his fellow cops chased in this province on Wednesday night.
Bulacan police identified the wounded cop as Patrolman Patrick Ronel Estrella, assigned to Norzagaray Police Station. His attacker, drug suspect Dengdeng Tumalad, died.
A police report showed that Estrella and other members of the Police Intelligence and Drug Enforcement Unit conducted a surveillance on the alleged involvement of Tumalad in illegal drug activities.
When they spotted Tumalad standing under a lighted post, Patrolman Estrella alighted from the police vehicle and approached him, but he managed to run away.
The cops pursued Tumalad in his house in Barangay Bitungol, Norzagaray, but the latter fired shots at them, hitting Estrella in the neck.
Though wounded, Estrella managed to fire back.
Despite his wounds, Tumalad managed to run away and hide for 17 hours. He was later arrested with the help of a concerned citizen who discovered him.
On the way to the hospital, the suspect tried to escape by jumping out of the police patrol car. He was recovered from a creek and brought to the hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
As of this writing, Estrella was still fighting for his life due to a gunshot wound in his neck at the Ace Hospital in Baliwag, Bulacan.
“While I always remind my men to be safe in the performance of their duties, we still cannot avoid being put in harm’s way. May this send a message to all that we are committed in our waging war against illegal drugs and we will continue to be relentless in our campaign at all costs,” Police Regional Office 3 director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said. (Freddie Velez, Liezle Basa Inigo)
