The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of criminal charges against a police officer and aunt of the 14-year-old boy, who is suspected to have fired a gun in a school in Tacloban City last month.
DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez on Tuesday confirmed that the office of the city prosecutor of Tacloban City filed a complaint of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and physical injuries against Police Staff Sergeant Arla Rey Pacencia.
This is in connection with the school shooting on June 22.
The charges were brought before the family court of the Tacloban City regional trial court.
‘The recommendation follows the preliminary investigation conducted on the complaint filed by parents and students of San Jose National High School, in connection with the shooting incident involving a child in conflict with the law,’ Martinez said in a statement to reporters.
He added: ‘The DOJ trusts that the criminal process will proceed in accordance with the rules on due process for all parties concerned.’
Pacencia is identified as the aunt who owned the government-issued 9mm Glock 17 firearm that alias ‘Nash,’ a Grade 9 student, used in the tragic shooting that left three people dead and at least 20 others injured.
The police officer, who has since been relieved from duty, said last month in a Senate inquiry into the tragic incident that she once brought Nash to a firing range because her nephew ‘looked up to her.’