Mother witnesses son’s killing

A POLICEMAN from the Manila Police District (MPD) will be charged with homicide after he repeatedly shot his attacker over the weekend.

Reynaldo Lee Jr. stabbed Police Officer 1 Gester Versoza of the Jose Abad Santos police station intelligence unit as the latter, who was in civilian clothes, was on his way home to Fajardo Street in Sampaloc.

Verzosa shot Lee eight times in front of his mother. Lee was brought to the University of Santo Tomas Hospital where he died.

A police report said Lee stabbed Verzosa for no apparent reason. They also did not know each other.

The footage taken by a closedcircuit television (CCTV) camera in the area showed Lee running down the street and then kicking Versoza’s motorcycle, knocking the police officer to the ground.

Then Lee started stabbing Verzosa with a Swiss knife before the latter drew his gun and shot the suspect several times.

The victim’s mother, Emidarda Mangcopa, witnessed the incident as she ran after her son when he stormed out of their house.

Earlier, mother and son had gotten into an argument.

An investigator said Lee was drunk when he went after Versoza who just happened to be passing by the area.

Versoza said he was forced to shoot Lee to defend himself.

“His mother said I was circling around him [Lee] before I ran toward him. But the footage taken by the CCTV camera showed that he attacked me first,” he added.

Versoza said he fired onat the victim repeatedly because he was afraid as he was already wounded.

Verzosa will still be charged with homicide.