‘Cleaning’ gun fatal to soldier

Was it an accident or an act of suicide? Foul play, maybe?

However it happened, Manila police probers said they would get to the bottom of the reason for the demise of Cpl. Michael Arceo, 26, a member of the Philippine Marines.

Arceo succumbed to a gunshot wound to the chin at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital dawn yesterday, following an incident in the second floor of his and his partner’s property in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Arceo’s partner Sushimita Tayo said she heard a gunshot at past 3 a.m., prompting her to go upstairs from tending their bar on the ground floor located along Malabon Street in Barangay 338.

Tayo recounted seeing Arceo already slumped on his chair bleeding, still holding his gun. She said she and her bar employees rushed Arceo to the hospital to no avail.

Tayo said she last saw Arceo while he was cleaning his gun.

Case investigator SPO3 Marlon San Pedro of the Manila Police District homicide division said they are looking at all angles of the case.