Bloody role play as 13-year-old arms self

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

A SCHEDULED role play at the Oro Christian Grace School in Macasandig nearly cost a 13-year-old girl her life after a pistol her classmate sneaked into the school went off on Thursday.

“They supposedly had a role-playing activity, war games, in their English class. The students brought plastic guns,” said Maj. Duyle Vembu Buenaflor, Macasandig police chief.

But one of the 7th graders from Tejero Subdivision, Barangay Patag, brought more than a toy gun — the 13-year-old armed himself with a pistol that allegedly belonged to his father.

The 9mm pistol, according to Buenaflor, accidentally went off inside Room 201 at the 2nd level of the Oro Christian Grace School’s main building in Macasandig past 7 am Thursday.

The victim, a resident of RER-Phase 2 in Barangay Kauswagan, was rushed to the Madonna and Child Hospital in Carmen. The girl, according to Buenaflor, is out of danger.

Buenaflor said the girl was merely grazed by a bullet. This paper, however, checked and found out that it was more than a graze — although a flesh wound, the bullet hit and went through the left part of the girl’s stomach.

Police took custody of the pistol and two plastic guns and found a shell from the 9mm pistol at the crime scene.

Buenaflor said the pistol was found inside the bag of one of the 7th graders.

Buenaflor said investigators found out that the pistol’s owner is an Army colonel but he did not give a name.

“The soldier left the gun in his house and then went to Manila. It looks like the son was able to find it and took it with him to school,” Buenaflor said.

This paper checked with another police source and the surname “Barrientos” surfaced. Capt. Reggie Go, Camp Evangelista spokesperson, said there is no “Barrientos” in the current roster of the 4th Infantry Division’s colonels.

Buenaflor said investigators were still working to find out exactly why and how the pistol went off, and how the student was able to bring a deadly weapon inside the campus undetected by school guards.

So far, what investigators found out was that the accidental shooting happened at a time when four 7th graders went inside Room 201 while waiting for their class.

Buenaflor said the girl, bloodied, subsequently went downstairs with her three classmates, and she was rushed to the hospital.

Police said there was an attempt by the girl to withhold vital information at first by claiming that her wound was caused by a metal stick.

He said the girl’s classmates subsequently revealed to a persistent teacher that it was a gunshot wound.

“The teacher searched for the metal stick and did not find any. Her classmates were pressured into telling the truth,” said Buenaflor.

He noted that it took a while for the accidental shooting to be reported to the Macasandig police. It was a woman named Leslie who brought the matter to the police’s attention past 11 am Thursday.

Buenaflor said social workers would have to step in and deal with the underaged suspect and victim.