KENINGAU: A 14-year-old student died from 14 gunshot wounds fired by his friend with a homemade shotgun (bakakuk) while playing hide-and-seek at a house compound at Jalan Kem PPH Keningau at 8am, Sunday.
Keningau District Police Chief Supt Yampil Garai said three people – the 14-year-old male student suspected of firing the shot, a retired man believed to own the weapon and a 13-year-old student who later hid the gun – were arrested.
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The elderly man is the father of both the teenage suspects.
The case came to light when a doctor at the Keningau Hospital’s Emergency Unit received a patient with gunshot wounds and declared him dead, prompting a police report at around 9.10am.
The victim was the 10th of 12 siblings and a close friend of the suspect and who frequently stayed at the latter’s home.
“The incident happened at a former police housing area at the Forest Police Force Camp site in Keningau.
“At about 8am, the suspect saw the victim holding the bakakuk in front of the unnumbered house.
The suspect then asked for the gun, intending to play with it, unaware it contained a live round.
“The two boys were playing hide-and-seek, with the victim hiding underneath the house when the suspect accidentally pulled the trigger, causing the weapon to discharge,” Yampil said.
The victim collapsed, causing the suspect to panic and seek help from villagers passing by to rush him to hospital. Medical officers at the emergency unit confirmed the victim dead at 8.40am.
Examination of the body revealed 14 gunshot wounds – five on the right chest, four on the right arm, two on the right knee and three on the left side of the body.
The wounds appeared consistent with scatter-shot pellets of an uncertain type.
The third youth detained was a witness who helped to hide the weapon in his father’s bedroom.
However, following the suspect’s directions, the bakakuk was recovered from the elderly man’s usual storage location.
Investigation at the scene determined that the suspect was some three metres from the victim when the shot was fired.
Two pellets were found at the location where blood was discovered near where the victim fell.
The victim’s body has been sent to the Keningau Hospital’s Forensic Unit with a post-mortem examination scheduled for Monday at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu.
The case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
