12-year-old Lanao del Norte victim dies from stray bullet

A 12-year-old girl was only playing and celebrating New Year’s Eve outside her home in Barangay Poblacion in Lanao del Norte when her life ended after she was hit by a stray bullet.

According to Marisol Abdurahman’s report on “24 Oras,” police investigators said that Suzette Abrigando was planning to welcome the new year with her cousins when she suddenly fell.

Abrigando’s head was bleeding, which neighbors initially believed was due to a wound she received after falling.

At the hospital, however, the victim was declared dead on arrival. It was only then that her relatives found that a stray bullet had hit Abrigando on the head.

“Bumagsak siya. Akala ng mga pinsan niya po ay siya’y nadulas lamang pero nakita ng mga pinsan niya may dugo na ang bata,” Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana, Philippine National Police spokespserson, said.

“Nakita ng doktor na hindi lang sadyang nadulas kundi talagang mayroon pong tama ng bala,” he added.

Authorities are attempting to identify the shooter and discover if the gun used was registered.

“Nai-turnover po itong slug sa custody na po ng ating crime laboratory personnel. Magka-conduct ng cross matching pagdating sa firearm kung saan maaring itong slug na ito ay nabibilang,” Usana said.

“Kung ito po ay loose firearm, there is difficult on the part of our authority to determine who was responsible doon sa pangyayaring iyon. Pero kapag naka-register itong firearm na ‘to, we will inform the public as regards who the owner of this firearm is,” he added.

Abrigando is the sole fatality of a stray bullet in the country during the 2021 New Year.

However, a six-year-old boy was in critical condition in Negros Occidental after he too was hit by a stray bullet, this time on the stomach.

A 31-year-old man in Dagupan City was also hit on the leg.

According to a spot report, the victim was about to sleep when he was shot.

“Kakain lang kami sana ng noche buena tapos biglang mau ano, ‘yung nahulog, umano ‘yung aming higaan. Pati ako na ano ng bala. Kaya ‘yun lumabas ako diyan sa bahay para sumaklolo tapos hinatid na ako doon sa amin, yung pinsan ko hinatid na ako sa region 1,” the victim said.

The suspects in all three shootings have yet to be identified.

No victim of a stray bullet has been reported for three years, making Abrigando’s case the first stray-bullet death since 2017. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News