By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A 66-year-old man believed to be suffering from a nervous breakdown was shot dead after he tried hacking a responding police officer in Barangay 13, Victorias City, Negros Occidental yesterday morning.

Police identified the fatality as Hernani Pimentel, a resident of Villa Victorias Relocation Site in the said barangay.

According to the Victorias City police, they responded to the area after they were informed by concerned citizens that Pimentel was distressed and was swinging around his bolo.

When police arrived, they initially tried to calm Pimentel down and asked him to drop the bolo his was holding. However, Pimentel did not listen and started chasing down one of the cops identified as Police Master Sgt. Valentin Cerdeña.

Cerdeña initially fired a warning shot, but when Pimentel continued to assault him, he was forced to open fire on the victim hitting him on the chest.

Pimentel was rushed to the city’s Ikaayong Lawas Foundation Hospital but hospital staff pronounced him dead-on-arrival.

Cerdeña, meanwhile, is also being treated at the hospital after his hand was hit by the victim’s bolo./DGB, WDJ