DPS awaits Guam ballistics findings

The CNMI Department of Public Safety says it has sent to the Guam Police Department’s crime laboratory the evidence it had collected at a home in Kagman where a 7-year-old boy had been shot in the face and DPS is now awaiting the ballistics report.

DPS spokesperson Fred Sato confirmed this in an interview yesterday, saying this is the latest development in the case, which occurred last May 21.

“Investigation into the shooting that happened in Kagman over a week ago involving two minor children continues. We understand that there are a lot of rumors going on about [this incident], but we want to get the facts right before we start issuing out details about what happened. This includes waiting for the analysis of the ballistics. We have sent ballistics out to Guam for analysis because we don’t have a crime lab here [on] Saipan. We rely on our partner [in] Guam who do have a crime lab,” he said.

Due to the recent devastation brought by Typhoon Mawar in Guam, DPS is unsure as to when they will receive the ballistics report from GPD.

“Right now, with what’s going on with Guam, we don’t know when we will receive the findings for the ballistics sent out. …We expect it might take a while, as Guam is still in recovery following Typhoon Mawar. It’s a process. We work on their time. When we get their findings, we will update the community,” he said.

Sato added that the ballistics report will also confirm whether the firearm in question was a registered service firearm or just a regular registered firearm that was found in the home. Sato briefly noted that there are multiple licensed gun holders in the home.

“Right now, we cannot confirm whether it is a service firearm because the ballistics are still being analyzed. We’ve sent out the shell casings and expended cartridge found at the home. All that is going through testing and once we’ve confirmed, we will provide that information,” he said.

“Whatever was fired from the firearm, the ballistics analysis will confirm or deny the rumor of whether or not the gun was a service issued one,” he added.

Sato also briefly explained that DPS has yet to share how the boy was shot because there are two young children involved and DPS does not want to speculate on who pulled the trigger.

“There were two kids that were playing inside the home [at the time of the incident]. Because they are juveniles and because it’s still early on into the investigation, we don’t want to speculate who pulled the trigger until we can get the information from our counterparts in Guam. Once we get all that information, then we can provide the community with the exact information in regards to this case. Right now, it’s still an ongoing investigation,” Sato said.

Touching on the subject of transparency, Sato said DPS Commissioner Clement Bermudes stands firm on his promise of transparency and, once more information is available, DPS will surely release it to the public. However, at this time, DPS asks that the community remains patient as DPS continues to further investigate this sensitive matter.

“The commissioner is fully aware and committed to his goal, which is transparency between the department and the community, but part of that transparency is making sure that we have dotted all our ‘i’s’ and crossed all our ‘t’s’ with this ongoing investigation and not just jump the gun and later on find out that the information we released was not accurate. That’s why this matter is still an ongoing investigation and, as soon as we get clarity from Guam, we will provide all that information to the public,” he said.

Sato also wants to assure the community that DPS will not cover up this case, even if a service issued firearm is involved, but he asks that the community remain patient as DPS gets to the bottom of what happened on the night of May 21.

“What I can assure the community is that there is no cover-up going on. Investigations are a process. In order to make a case against someone, even a police officer, we need to build one, make sure the evidence is accurate, because we can’t just take people’s words for it,” he said.