Girl, 9, dies hours after being hit by stray bullet

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines —The nine-year-old girl who fell into a coma for more than 10 hours after she was hit in the head by stray bullet Sunday night has died, police authorities said.

Senior Police Officer 1 Charles Coprada, investigator of the case, told The Freeman that the parents confirmed that stray bullet victim Ycol Dealagdon died several hours after she was rushed to Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC).

"Based on the information from the family of the victim, that the life of the 9-year-old victim expired at around 10 o’clock this morning (yesterday), and they are now preparing to bring back the body of the innocent girl hit by stray bullet,” Coprada said.

Dealagdon was playing in front of their house in Barangay Cogon, Calbayog City when she was hit by a stray bullet at around 6 p.m. the night before.

Coprada said that based on the initial investigation, the suspect identified as Junjun Derio, a multicab driver, was drunk when he drew his .45 automatic pistol and fired three times while challenging a fight in their barangay.

The hot pursuit operations conducted by the Calbayog police failed to arrest suspect.

"We are still conducting an investigation while we are giving an ample time to the family of the victims to mourn before we can file charges against Derio," Coprada said. (FREEMAN)