Baby hit by stray bullet

CEBU, Philippines - A three-month-old baby boy from barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City was rushed to hospital Tuesday night for a wound on the head caused by a stray bullet.

The baby’s mother, Carmel Dumadapat, told police investigators that while she was rocking her baby to sleep at around 7:50 p.m., she noticed blood dripping from the baby’s head. She said she also found a hole in the piece of cloth she had made as a cradle for the baby.

She immediately brought the baby to Eversley Hospital in barangay Jagobiao in Mandaue but due to the need of an operation, the baby was transferred to the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

A doctor found a slug which was embedded in the right portion of the baby’s head.

Police station chief P Sr./Insp Wilson Abot said that minutes after the mother went to the police station, he immediately ordered his men  to check investigate the neighborhood.

PO2 Bruce Taneo’s team from the Basak Police Station who responded to the alarm found a bullet hole on the window which is made of plywood.

None of Dumadapat’s neighbors heard any gunshot that night and police have theorized the gun was fired far from Dumadapat’s house.

“Ako dyud dayon gisugo akong mga tawo ug panaka ang mga kabalayan duol didtong dapita sa bay mga security guard ug tanod ug uban pa nga posibli nga naghupot ug armas apan wa man dyud ta’y nakit-an,” Abot said.

He said their investigation will now focus on residents who are living within a 25 to 60 meter-radius from the window of the victim’s residence.

He also believed that that shooting was accidental since residents of the place never heard of any commotions.

Carmel’s husband was driving a passenger tricycle when the accident happened. The couple’s two other children were at a neighbor’s house watching television.