By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A police officer was stabbed while trying to serve a warrant to a murder suspect on Tuesday morning at Sitio Amparo in Barangay Mabini, Escalante City, Negros Occidental.

The Escalante City Police Office identified the wounded officer as Police Officer 3 (PO3) Teofisto Aburido, who was attempting to arrest Joy Victorama, a resident of the said sitio.

Based on reports by police, the station’s warrant and subpoena section, which included Aburido and PO1 Cris Escovilla, conducted an operation at the suspect’s home, where they would serve Victorama an arrest warrant.

As Escovilla was reading the details of the warrant to Victorama, the suspect reportedly reached for the officer’s firearm, which resulted in the two wrestling for the gun.

Aburido tried to intervene but fell down, wherein the suspect withdrew from the scrap and grabbed a metal object used for sugarcane planting. He then used it to stab the down officer in the arm.

In response, Escovilla fired at the suspect, striking him on the left side of his body.

Aburido sustained a minor injury and was rushed to the city’s district hospital where he was later discharged.

Victorama, meanwhile, was brought to the Vicente Gustilo District Hospital and later transferred to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.

Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office director, Police Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Castil, Jr., who received the report from Escalante City police, said, while Victorama’s condition is still unknown, the suspect may face additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer./DGB, WDJ