MANILA, Philippines – An 11-year-old girl who died after being hit by a bullet during the New Year’s Eve revelry in Las Piñas City was not a stray bullet victim, a police official said yesterday.
Homicide investigators have invited a 55-year-old contractor to shed light on the death of Darlene Gutierrez, of Mapayapa Village in Pulang Lupa 1.
Gutierrez died from a gunshot to the head a few minutes before 2016, Las Piñas police chief Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo said.
“ It’s not a case of stray bullet. We have a person of interest and we are building up a case,” Modequillo said. “He is not yet a suspect and he is cooperating in the investigation.”
Modequillo withheld the identity of the contractor pending results of the investigation.
Police said the contractor underwent a paraffin test.
A check with the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Division showed the contractor is not a licensed gun holder, Modequillo said.
Reports said the girl asked permission from her father, Roldan, to climb up to the third floor of a neighbor’s house to watch fireworks along with three other children.
A bullet hit the victim in the forehead and exited at the back of her left ear.
One of the girl’s friends said they were jumping up and down in an effort to see the fireworks when Gutierrez was hit.
Roldan rushed to the scene and saw the contractor’s wife holding his daughter.
The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she died on Jan. 1.
Modequillo said they invited the contractor for questioning after his wife and the victim’s friends gave conflicting statements.
The contractor’s wife told police her husband was not in the house at the time of the incident. The children said otherwise.
There were no eyewitnesses who could say if the contractor had fired a gun, police said.
A slug of still unknown gun caliber was retrieved by scene of the crime officers, Modequillo said.