'Peeing' cop shoots man, injures self

KALIBO, AKLAN – Peeing in public sparked a shooting incident amid the merrymaking for the Ati-Atihan Festival in this capital town Tuesday evening, resulting in the injuries of two persons, one of whom was a policeman.

Senior Supt. Cornelio Defensor, Aklan Police chief, said the shooting started when PO2 Larry Molo, an off-duty member of the Malay Police Station, relieved himself at a wall of a Catholic school near the Pastrana Park here.

The wall has a written warning “Bawal ang umihi ditto,” but Molo, who was not part of the security contingent for the festival and was only in the area to enjoy himself, still did his thing. This prompted Jojit Reyes, a former mediaman, to warn the policeman.

Molo, who was in civilian clothes, got angry and engaged Reyes on a verbal tussle. At the height of their argument, Molo reportedly pulled his gun and attempted to shoot Reyes but the latter managed to parry it, with the bullet hitting instead Reyes’ companion, Junie Sitjar.

Several policemen from the Kalibo Police Station and the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) came and tried to pacify their fellow policeman.

“But since Molo’s finger was on the trigger of his gun, it went off hitting his stomach. The bullet went through-and-through his buttock,” Defensor said. Both victims were rushed to the hospital.

Molo is still confined at the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital in Kalibo town while Sitjar was released after getting treatment of his graze wound on the arm.– (FREEMAN)