POLICE arrested a member of the Presidential Security Group and a retired Army sergeant after they were accused of firing their guns indiscriminately on New Year’s Eve.
Taguig City police arrested Cpl. Richard John Quijan, assigned to the Light Reaction Regiment, Special Operations Command-PSG, and a retired sergeant, Jamael Mindalano.
They were charged with indiscriminate firing, alarm and scandal, illegal possession of firearms
and ammunition, physical injury, direct assault, resisting arrest and serious disobedience before the Department of Justice.
Police took two .45-cal pistols, a .99mm pistol, a .38-cal revolver and assorted ammunition.
National Capital Region Police Office spokesperson Kimbery Molitas said the two were arrested following a complaint filed against them by their neighbor, Jolly Moreno.
“Mindalano and Quijan were reported to have committed the above crimes by victim, Jolly Moreno, who was slightly hit in [his] right midsection by ricochet bullet shrapnel while welcoming the New Year,” she said.
In Las Piñas City, Police Officer 1 Alexander Roy Rafer assigned at Police Community Precinct 6, was also arrested for indiscriminate firing. Confiscated from him was .9mm pistol. He is now detained and will be charged criminally before the city prosecutors office.
NCRPO director Oscar Albayalde assured the public that the suspects would be thoroughly and speedily investigated.
“They must be liable to the law and to the victim. They must face the consequences and corresponding sanctions,” he said.
In Caloocan City, authorities also arrested Isagani Ancheta, 38, a resident of Block 11 Barangay 35 Sawata, Maypajo.
Ancheta was involved in a shooting incident at the height of the New Year revelry along Sawata Road between Block 2 and Block 3. The victims were identified as Gil Calupaz, 27; Joven Earl Gaces, 10; and Princess Denise Cruzat, 10. They were taken to Dr. Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center and Tondo General Hospital.
Police took a Glock 17 caliber 9mm pistol with a defaced serial number used in the shooting.
Company driver Federico Alcala, 54, was also arrested for firing his gun, a .45-cal pistol, in Barangay Cembo in Makati City.
Police said there were no fires caused by firecrackers this year.
