A POLICEMAN said to be drunk went berserk and fired indiscriminately inside the Manila Police District (MPD) headquarters in Ermita, Manila.

He killed one cop and wounded another.

The suspect also ended up dead.

Dead on arrival at a hospital was PEMS Reynante Dipasupil, 46.

He was assigned at the District Police Intelligence Operations Unit (DPIOU) of the MPD and residing in Punta, Sta. Ana, Manila.

Dipasupil sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the body.

PEMS Romeo Cantal of the District Headquarters Support Unit (DHSU) was fatally shot while trying to arrest Dipasupil.

PMSg Reynaldo Cordova of the District Drug Enforcement Unit (DDEU), 50, of Tondo, Manila was shot in the body.

Investigation showed he incident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. Friday inside the MPD headquarters on United Nations (UN) Avenue in Ermita.

The suspect was said to have arrived reeking of liquor and proceeded to the office of the DPIOU.

He told Sinabihan PSSg Michael Datur who was on  duty not to meddle with his problem and then went straight to a cabinet from where he took an M-16 rifle.

The gun jammed so he took another weapon, a Galil 5.56mm Rifle and then fired seven times at the ceiling.

Operatives from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) led by PLTCOL Dionelle Brannon responded and an exchange of fire took place, wounding Cordova.

The suspect went to the corridor and came across PCpl Salvador Nepomuceno whom he told to go back into the office.

At the second floor, he went to the office of MPD District Director PBGen Leo Francisco and fired repeatedly.

Francisco was not in his office then.

PCpl Jomar Dela Paz who was the duty desk officer managed to take cover  while shots were being fired.

PSSg Aaron Urbano, PSSg German Roque Jr. and PSSg Allen Camangon, who were the duty security at Francisco’s office, returned fire.

When he ran out of bullets, the suspect left the gun and went down to the west wing while PSSg Camangon recovered the Galil Rifle.

The suspect went to Gate 4 of the MPD headquarters to escape and along the way, PEMS Cantal and PSSg Ferdinand Francia told him to give up.

However, he chose to shoot it out with them hitting Cantal.

Both were rushed to the hospital. Dipasupil was pronounced dead at 3 a.m. at the Manila Doctors’ Hospital while PEMS Cantal died at around the same time at the Manila Medical Center.

PSSg Cordova survived and remains at the Manila Medical Center.

Francisco ordered a thorough investigation and the upgrading of the security deployment inside the MPD headquarters to full alert status.

It was learned that the suspect had been relieved prior to the incident which may have been the reason why he went amuck.

Meanwhile, 46-YEAR old policeman on Friday was recorded as PNP’s 73rd COVID-19 fatality.

Eleazar expressed his condolences to the bereaved family of the cop from General Santos City.

The policeman, according to the PNP Health Service went to a local hospital after suffering from difficulty of breathing and having an on-and-off fever on Thursday.

He was immediately subjected to a series of laboratory examinations including an RT-PCR test.

Around 4:20 a.m. Friday, the policeman was declared dead by his attending physician.  Doctors said he was suffered from immuno-compromise due to hypertension, dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia.

On Saturday, the PNP-HS headed by Brigadier Gen. Luisito P. Magnaye said they have recorded 184 new virus cases bringing to a total of 27,456 the number of police personnel who contracted the virus since March last year.

“Sa ating mga pulis na mayroong comorbidity, lagi niyong pakaingatan ang inyong sarili at sana kayo rin ay magpabakuna na para sa dobleng proteksyon.”

“Para maprotektahan ang ibang tao at inyong pamilya, simulan ninyo sa pagprotekta sa inyong sarili,” Gen. Eleazar said.

The PNP-HS also recorded 100 more recoveries bringing the total number of cops who have fully recovered from the disease since last year to 25,618.

PNP medical teams are also monitoring 1,765 ‘active cases’ as of press time.