Six police officers in the Philippine capital are under criminal investigation for shooting and killing a boy they believed to be a murder suspect.
Jerhode Baltazar, who had been shot in the head, drowned in a fishing town outside of Manila.
As officers tried to take him into custody, he panicked and dove into the ocean.
Authorities acknowledged that the policemen‘s decision to kill the unarmed 17-year-old was a “lapse in judgement” given the circumstances.
They are unable to use self-defense. According to local news, Navotas city police commander Col. Allan Umipig, “They were unable to demonstrate that the victim resisted arrest.”
What made police think the adolescent was the individual they were looking for was not immediately clear. They were assigned to apprehend a suspect in a different shooting that had also occurred in Navotas.
The six officers have been suspended from duty and are being held while authorities look into the possibility that they could be charged with homicide, a crime that in the Philippines carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
Local news organisations have prominently covered the shooting.
The victim’s father, Jesse Baltazar, was shown on social media footage hugging his son’s body after it had been pulled from the ocean.
Mr. Balazar questioned why, despite the police officers’ claims that they had only fired warning shots, his son had been shot in the head.
Through a video chat, the victim’s mother, who works in Qatar, saw her son’s coffin. She admitted to local media that she never expected her son’s funeral would be the subject of her subsequent payment.
Jeraldine Tolentino, the victim’s sister, also revealed to the local media that she turned down a 50,000 peso ($1,000; £698) bribe to stop the family from pursuing the case.
Authorities in the Philippines have recently refuted claims that suspects in crimes, notably those connected to illegal drugs, have been killed extrajudicially. They’ve refuted any misconduct.
During the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose term expired in mid-2022, reports of summary executions of suspected criminals who allegedly resisted arrest rose. The International Criminal Court, which he has refused to recognise, is looking into him. Currently retired, Mr. Duterte resides in Davao City.
His opponents claim that his zealous approach to combating crime has encouraged police wrongdoing. However, he has defended his most well-known programme as essential for protecting Filipinos from street violence.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Duterte’s successor, has scaled back his anti-drug crusade. State actors have been charged with taking part in high-profile homicides, including the murder of journalist Percival Mabasa in November 2022.