FORM TWO STUDENT FATALLY SHOT WITH HOMEMADE ‘BAKAKUK’ IN KENINGAU

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- A Form Two student died after he was accidentally shot with a homemade firearm, known locally as a ‘bakakuk’, while playing with a friend at Jalan Kem PPH Keningau yesterday.

Keningau district police chief Supt Yampil Anak Garai said the 14-year-old victim was playing with a friend at about 8 am when the teenager unintentionally discharged the weapon from a distance of about three metres.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect saw the victim holding the bakakuk in front of an unnumbered house at Jalan Kem PPH, Keningau and asked to see the weapon.

“The suspect began to play with it, pointing the firearm towards the victim as they played hide-and-seek. At the same time, the victim was hiding underneath the house.

“Unaware that there was a round in the chamber, the suspect accidentally pulled the trigger, causing the weapon to discharge towards the victim,” he said in a statement today.

Yampil said the victim fell on his back without a word, prompting the suspect to panic and seek help from nearby villagers to bring the victim to the hospital, who was pronounced dead by a medical officer at 8.40 am there.

Initial examination of the victim’s body found 14 wounds from an unidentified pellet bullet on the right chest, right arm, as well as right and left knees.

“No other eyewitnesses were present with the victim and the suspect at the time,” he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

-- BERNAMA