Police official yields after shooting waiter
Head of police unit in Lapu-Lapu shoots, kills bar waiter after drinking binge
Senior Supt. Conrado Capa of PRO 7 says Insp. Rogelio Amoroso Jr. will likely be dismissed from service Police promised an impartial investigation
A35-YEAR-OLD police official surrendered after shooting a waiter to death and wounding a bouncer inside a restobar in Barangay Basak, LapuLapu City at dawn yesterday.
Insp. Rogelio Amoroso Jr., chief of the Law Enforcement Section of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO), was detained at LLCPO while homicide and frustrated homicide charges are being prepared against him.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 deputy regional director for operations Conrado Capa said Amoroso is likely to be dismissed from the service. He said Amoroso violated an order that prohibits any member of the PNP from going into bars, whether they are on-duty or off-duty.
Police said the shooting incident happened at the Lotus Restobar around 1 a.m.
Head shot
The waiter–identified as John Stephen Lagsanay, 18, a resident of Barangay Marigondon, LapuLapu City-died after suffering a gunshot wound in the neck and in the head. He was declared dead at the Mactan Doctors Hospital.
Archie Gesta, the 37-yearold bouncer, sustained a gunshot wound in his stomach. He was brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.
Initial investigation revealed that Amoroso, who was off duty at the time, got irked after Gesta and another bouncer asked him to deposit his firearm before entering the bar.
PO3 Luisito Ernie of the LLCPO Homicide Section said Amoroso was allegedly seen going back to his private car before he returned to the bar and shot Gesta at the entrance. He then went inside and shot Lagsanay, before fleeing.
Amoroso has a different version of the event.
Speaking to reporters, he said he was inside the bar, drinking with two fellow police officers and two civilians, when the waiter bumped his back accidentally. He reprimanded the waiter.
Amoroso said he was surprised when the waiter returned with a bouncer. The bouncer held his neck and one of his arms while the wait-
er punched him in the face.
When the bouncer let go of him, Amoroso said he went to his car and got his service firearm, a 9mm pistol. He then went back inside the bar and shot the waiter and the bouncer.
Capa said police personnel have to observe proper decorum and must not engage in drinking spree and joining any form of gambling in public places, such as bars, clubs and casinos.
Standards
The PNP Ethical Doctrine Manual states that all members “shall adhere to high standards of morality and decency and shall set good examples for others to follow.”
Capa believes, though, that Amoroso's case is an isolated one and will not affect the image of the PNP. “Nasa personal ugali na kasi yan (His actions showed his character),” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Capa assured the public there will be no whitewash on the administrative investigation that the PRO 7 will be conducting on Amoroso.
Amoroso, who resides in Barangay Basak, admitted he had had too many drinks, saying he and his friends were on their fourth bucket of beer when he had a violent encounter with the waiter and the bouncer.
Investigators recovered three empty shells from a 9mm pistol and a slug.
Surrender
Supt. Jonathan Abella, LLCPO's deputy city director for administration, said Amoroso surrendered to a former police superior residing in Mandaue City who turned him over to LLCPO around 5 a.m.
Abella assured the police will conduct an impartial investigation, saying they will check footages from the bar's closed-circuit television cameras.
“We will conduct the investigation professionally. We will not take sides,” he told reporters.
Amoroso said he has been with the PNP for 12 years.
According to a Sun.Star report last Oct. 4, 2013, Amoroso was one of the police officers awarded by the Cebu Provincial Government for a successful anti-illegal drug operation in the northern town of Medellin in February 2013. He was then with the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Cebu Provincial Police Office.