(UPDATED), 1st UPDATE. A 17-year-old was shot dead by Caloocan City police Wednesday. According to a police report, Kian Loyd Delos Santos, a grade 11 student fired first but missed, prompting an officer to shoot back.
But CCTV footage shows that two police officers were carrying Delos Santos while walking towards the area where he was shot and were in control of the victim when the incident happened.
Two unidentified eye witnesses told ABS-CBN News that they saw the police hand Delos Santos the gun and told him to fire it and run away.
“They said he had a gun but the truth is he didn’t,” one witness said in Filipino, “I felt so bad for him. They were punching him.”
The other witness said she saw the police blind fold Delos Santos.
A GMA News reporter tweeted a photo of the victim before he was killed next to a photo of him in a body bag.
17yo Kian Loyd Delos Santos, a grade 11 student, was killed last night in a police operation at Brgy 160, Caloocan. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/Emo09Rezih
— Victoria Tulad (@victoriatulad) August 17, 2017
Another CCTV video shows one of the police officers in the barangay hall lifting his shirt and showing his back to some barangay workers, presumably to check if he had been shot.
Two packs of shabu, a caliber-.45, and four empty bullet shells. But the victim’s relative told GMA News that the items did not belong to Delos Santos.
According to a report by GMA News, some people said that they saw a drug suspect give Delos Santos what looked like a pack of shabu (meth) after the suspect saw the police coming.
When asked about the incident, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella called it an “isolated” case and said that President Rodrigo Duterte will “defend the police in their carrying out of duties.” However, he also said that the president “will not tolerate any abuse and any breaches of the law.”
The police community precinct commander (PCP) of Caloocan and the three police officers linked to the incident were relieved from their posts today.
According to police data, more than 2,000 people have been killed in police operations since Duterte’s war on drugs started. Much more have died in unexplained circumstances. This week, at least 60 people were killed in three days during a drug raid.
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