Marine sergeant accidentally shot, seriously injured by subordinate

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A sergeant in the Navy’s 6th Marine Battalion was wounded in an accidental rifle shot by a companion while in their unit’s command center in Barangay Rosary Heights 9 in Cotabato City on Wednesday, September 2.

In separate reports on Thursday, the Cotabato City Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region identified the victim as Sgt. Gerald Estralla Ejemplar, now confined to the hospital.

Police investigators under the Cotabato City Police Precinct 2 and barangay officials had separately told reporters that Ejemplar’s companion, Corporal Noe Felizario Mama, Jr., was fixing his belongings inside their sleeping quarter and, subsequently, picked up his service MFR 56 rifle and, while loading its chamber with a bullet, accidentally squeezed its trigger.

The bullet, fired unintentionally, pierced through the thin wall of his room, made only of semi-permanent materials, and hit the left upper torso of Ejemplar, who was at the next makeshift cubicle.

Ejemplar was immediately brought by his companions to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center, not too distant from their battalion command post in Barangay Rosary Heights 9, for treatment.