Suspected gun in stray bullet death confiscated

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – Police have arrested a neighborhood toughie for possession of a homemade .38-caliber revolver suspected to have been fired during the New Year’s Eve revelry, with its stray bullet killing an infant in Caoayan, Ilocos Sur.

“We have not concluded that he is the culprit in shooting the stray bullet that hit the infant, but surely he is arrested for illegal possession of firearms,” said Superintendent Marlo Castillo, spokesman of the Ilocos Sur police.

Castillo was referring to Vinecio Bilgera Jr., who is now facing illegal gun charges.

Bilgera lives in Barangay Anonang Mayor where three-month-old Vhon Alexander Llagas was killed by a stray bullet.

Castillo said policemen, armed with a search warrant, swooped down on Bilgera’s house and found the revolver with four live bullets in the kitchen. Eleven more bullets were seized in Bilgera’s home.

Ballistics experts earlier ruled that the bullet taken from the infant’s head either came from a 9-mm or a .38 caliber that was fired within 100 meters from the Llagases’ residence.

“The gun is subject to examination and cross-matching with the slug taken from the infant’s head,” Castillo said.

Police earlier had put under close watch four firemen who voluntarily surrendered their service firearms to belie allegations of indiscriminate firing during the New Year’s Eve revelry.

Only after the .38-caliber revolver seized from Bilgera matches with the slug recovered from the victim’s head can the police have sufficient evidence to charge him for the baby’s death, Castillo said.