BY MAE SINGUAY and CYRUS GARDE
BACOLOD City – A man was injured in an encounter with police officers who were out to serve an arrest warrant in Barangay Vista Alegre.
The 20-year-old Ronald Dela Pena sustained a gunshot wound on the abdomen, a Police Station 7 report showed.
He was currently recuperating at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, police said.
The encounter happened around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Joint elements of Police Station 7, City Intelligence Unit, Bacolod City Police Office’s Mobile Force Company, and the Regional Special Operations Group were supposed to arrest Ejay “Batoy” Sevilla in Vista Alegre at the time.
Sevilla, also 20 years old, faces a murder charge before the Regional Trial Court Branch 45 in Bacolod City. The court issued him an arrest warrant on Aug. 2.
Police Station 7 commander Chief Inspector Ramil Sarona said the Sevilla, Dela Pena and their two unidentified companions fired at the arresting officers first.
The police retaliated, hitting Dela Pena who was armed with a .22-caliber firearm, the report stated.
Sevilla and the two others managed to escape and were still at large as of this writing.
Recovered from the crime scene were a .38-caliber revolver and a .45-caliber pistol the police said were owned by Sevilla./PN
