Cop mysteriously dies in Maharlika

By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents .

CITY police director Senior Supt. Robert Roy Bahian yesterday ordered a thorough investigation into the death of a member of the city police’s City Mobile Force Company inside the Maharlika headquarters late Tuesday night.

The officer, 30-year old PO3 Joseph Marimond, of Alco Homes in Carmen, had a gunshot wound on the forehead. He died on a bed in a room located at the old Maharlika building on Gumamela Extension in Barangay Carmen.

“Pag-abot namo sa sulod naka-higda na kini siya sa iyuang katre, facing upward with gunshot wounds on the right part of his forehead,” said SPO1 Jayson Landar of the Carmen police station.

Landar said Marimond died at around 11 pm.

He said Marimond’s body would be autopsied.

Landar theorized that Marimond, who became a policeman in 2009, died of “accidental  firing” or it could be a case of suicide.

But Landar said investigators were not ruling out other possibilities, including the foul play angle.

Cagayan de Oro City Police Office spokesperson Supt. Mardy Hortillosa said ,said Senior Supt. Bahian directed Senior Insp. Demver Vergara, Carmen police chief, to leave no stone unturned in the investigation into PO3 Marimond’s death.

He did not rule out the possibility that all police officers who were in the Maharlika headquarters the night Marimond died would be made to undergo paraffin tests to see if any of them fired a gun and to determine the presence of gun powder particles.

The Cocpo compound was off limits to reporters yesterday as investigators looked for clues to determine how exactly a bullet hit Marimond in the forehead.

Hortillosa said Cocpo hoped that a thorough investigation would erase any doubts about the death of Marimond.

“Para mawala ang pagduda sa publiko and to determine whether it was an accident, suicide or if somebody was responsible for the death,” he said.

Landar said he suspected that it was an accident, and it was the bullet from Marimond’s 9mm Glock pistol that killed the officer at the 2nd level of the old building. The room where he was found dead was assigned to the City Mobile Force Company.

Landar said Marimond was apparently changing his clothes when he was hit by a bullet. He said Marimond was about to go on duty at the gate of the Maharlika headquarters.

“Ang safety device gud anang Glock,  na-a sa tomoy sa iyang trigger. Mao na dilikado gyud kaayo nga moboto, labi na kon loaded kini og bala. Dili man pareho sa .45 caliber pistol nga ang iyang safety device, na-a sa iyang kilid,” said Landar.

The pistol was sent to a crime laboratory for examination.

Hortillosa said it was possible that Marimond accidentally pulled the trigger.

“Wala gyud tingali to siya naka-bantay,” he said.

Hortillosa said officers who interacted with Marimond on Tuesday did not notice anything different with the dead policeman.

“But pangutan-on pa nato more ang iyang mga kauban ilabi na gyud iyang pamilya og mga higala,” he said.

Marimond’s sister Marilou said it appeared to her as an accident.

She said the officer had dinner with her and other family members that night, and her brother did not tell her any problem or anything unusual.

“Accidental man siguro kay nanihapon pami wala man nagsulti og problema. Nagpalit pa man gani siya og sud-an,” she said.

Marimond’s body was brought to the St. Peter’s funeral homes in Barangay Iponan.