Policewoman-aunt of 14-year-old Tacloban school shooting suspect says he broke into her house to obtain gun
The aunt of the 14-year-old suspect in the Tacloban school shooting said that her nephew broke into her house and forced open her locker to obtain the gun he allegedly used in the tragic incident.
Police Staff Sergeant Arla Paciencia, alias Nash's aunt, appeared before the July 1 hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality into the shooting that took place at San Jose National High School on June 22.
According to Paciencia, she kept her 9mm Glock inside a gun box stored inside a locker in her house. PCol. Noelito A. Getigan said Nash allegedly entered Paciencia's home through a window.
"Nash unlawfully entered my own house. He forcibly damaged my locker," Paciencia said, noting that both her house and locker were locked. "I am [the only] one who had possession to the key of my house."
Paciencia shared that she lived alone in her home and that the 14-year-old lived with his parents.
The policewoman said that both the locker and the gun box where she kept her gun were made of plastic before admitting that she knew that a plastic locker isn't standard for keeping a firearm.
"'Yung standard po is 'yung safety vault, but it was in good faith that I believed it was safe at the time, since I’m [the only one] staying in my own house,” Pacencia said.
When asked how Nash found the gun, Paciencia said that he probably searched for where she could have kept it. "'Yun lang po 'yung area na may lock."
Furthermore, Paciencia confessed to bringing the 14-year-old to a firing range.
"I only brought him just once. He usually told me that he wanted to be a police officer like me. He looked up [to] me. He wanted to be a police officer and he was asking if I could bring him sa firing range," she said. As Sen. Raffy Tulfo later noted, there's no law prohibiting minors from a shooting range.
According to the policewoman, there were times she provided financial support to Nash.
"In cases po na walang-wala yung parents niya, because they are members of 4Ps, wala po silang trabaho, naawa naman ako sa bata lalo na kung nanghihingi ng pambili ng ulam, gatas, kahit po sa education nila," she said.
She described her nephew as an "introvert" who spends a lot of time on his phone. "Before, Nash was a different kid. Siguro nung nagpu-puberty na po siya, doon siya nag-start magkaroon ng sarili niyang mundo," Paciencia added.
Nash is one of the suspects in the Tacloban school shooting that left three students dead and several others injured. The other suspect is a 15-year-old with the alias "Rod." They are currently under the joint monitoring of social workers and law enforcement authorities.
A criminal complaint has been filed against the 15-year-old suspect. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old is detained in a youth facility where he will undergo intense intervention until he is rehabilitated, according to Department of Social Welfare and Development Sec. Rex Gatchalian.
