Elderly man killed in shootout with police

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – An elderly man was killed in a shootout with police officers at Hacienda Dela Peña, Barangay Cansilayan, Murcia, Negros Occidental on Tuesday.

Police Major Robert Dejucos, town police chief, identified the fatality as Lorenzo Pararen, 64, of Barangay Zone 2.

Pararen’s 14-year-old companion was wounded.

Dejucos said that police officers responded to a call for assistance from village watchmen after they saw Pararen on a motorcycle.

Dejucos said that police flagged down Pararen but he fled, prompting the law enforcers to chase and later corner him at Barangay Cansilayan.

He said that Pararen allegedly fired at the responding officers first, prompting the latter to retaliate.

Peraren was killed in the shootout while his companion managed to run and hid in a sugarcane plantation.

The minor was brought to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital to treat the gunshot wound on his left shoulder. He is in stable condition.

Police recovered from Pararen a .38-caliber revolver, five live ammunitions, an ammunition cartridge, two plastic sachets of suspected shabu, and a motorcycle.

Dejucos said the village watchmen did not recognize the minor at first because Pararen allegedly told him to cover his face with a bonnet.

He said that the suspect and the minor are not related at all.