Man holds cops at bay then kills self

A real-life drama that lasted for over an hour literally ended with a bang yesterday when a 45-year-old man shot himself dead on his left temple while holding policemen and hundreds of kibitzers at bay in the downtown area.

The fatality was identified as Elmer Ortega, who was reportedly a member of the Centennial Force, an anti-crime volunteer organization.

Ortega scaled an unfinished three-story multi-purpose building at the corner of C. Padilla and Tres de Abril Streets in barangay Pahina San Nicolas and fired twice at passing vehicles, but missed.

His brother Gil, who lives nearby rushed to the scene when he heard the gunfire while Fe, a sister, called the police.

The Ortegas are from barangay Talaga, Argao, but are now residing in barangay Pahina San Nicolas with their mother.

The responding policemen along with his family tried to talk sense into Ortega, who was armed with a homemade .357 revolver, a bolo, and a steel pipe, which turns into a nunchaku.

Ortega eventually gave up the pipe then dropped the bolo, but refused to let go of the gun.

His brother Gil told SPO2 Rey Cuyos of of the Homicide Section that the fatality started acting violently after he suffered a nervous breakdown.

After over an hour of the stalemate, Ortega asked to talk to the media and requested for a popular radio commentator.

The negotiators told him that it can only happen if he gives up his gun, which he refused.

Top police officials of Sthe city including Supt. Pablo Labra, Chief Insp. Arnel Banzon and Sr.Insp.George Ylanan tried to help persuade Ortega to surrender, but their calls were not heeded.

What worsened the situation was the crowd that started to gather around the scene of the incident prompting police and tanods to use force to keep the people at bay.

Luckily, Ortega did not start shooting at the crowd, but pointed the gun at his head four times threatening to shoot himself.

On the fourth instance, the gun went off and Ortega fell to the ground where he was picked up by responding paramedics from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) and brought to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) where he expired.

Accidental

While everyone tried to get a closer look at the scene, SPO2 Flaviano Atuel, Jr. of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), was atop a nearby building ready to maim Ortega if he had started to shoot at the people.

Atuel said, he saw Ortega poke the gun at his temple using his left hand three times, but did not have any finger at the trigger in all those instances.

During the fourth time Ortega poked the gun at his head, his index finger was already at the trigger and the hammer was down so the gun easily fired.

Atuel was monitoring every move of Ortega using a scope attached to a sniper’s rifle.

Atuel explained to his superiors, "Murag accidental sir, kay primero hangtud sa ikatulo nga sige siya og tion sa iyang ulo sa armas ang iyang trigger finger naa ra sa gawas dayon sa pagka-ikaupat niyang tion finger-in naman siya pero open hammer na siya mao ‘to pagbuhi niya nibuto."

Banzon, who is one of the hostage crisis’ negotiators of the city police office, also suspects that Ortega may have accidentally shot himself, citing that he even asked for media people to come and talk to him.

"Possibly accidental kay nakig-audience pa man siya sa mga media… duna man guy pag-lull (naputol) ang pag-estoryahay," Banzon said to reporters.

Scene of the Crime Operations policemen led by Inspector Leonidez Casul recovered a loaded .357 revolver with two dud bullets, one empty shell, and three live ammunition and bolo.

The nunchaku was turned over by PO2 Dennis Hernandez, who got it when Ortega gave it up during the early part of the crisis.

Police also found three empty shells at the rooftop believed to be left by Ortega after reloading his gun.

Incident Review

Acting city police director Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador said they would debrief the police responders about the incident and have them watch the video footage of the incident.

This is done to review what ought to be done the next time a similar incident would happen.

He admitted that the CCPO has trained hostage negotiators in Banzon and Chief Insp. Jonathan Abella, but the negotiating team is yet to be organized.

Comendador also noted that there was lack of direct radio contact between the ground commander and the sniper, who were forced to communicate using their cellular phones.

The police chief also noted the lack of crowd control, which put a lot of people in danger considering that Ortega already shot at passing vehicles before holding everyone at bay. (/NLQ)