Officer involved in Kagman shooting waives preliminary hearing

The police officer involved in the Kagman shooting where a child was shot in the face has waived his preliminary hearing.

DPS officer Raymond Lizama Saralu, whose service-firearm is believed to have been the gun used in the Kagman shooting, waived his right to a preliminary hearing last Friday.

Because he has waived his preliminary hearing, Saralu’s case will move forward with arraignment on Aug. 21, before Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja.

According to court documents, DPS dispatch received a call from off-duty officer Saralu at around 9:06pm last May 21, asking that an ambulance be sent to his residence.

When first responders arrived, they found a 7-year-old boy lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to the Commonwealth Health Center, but was later transported to Guam Memorial Hospital for surgery.

Although he is recovering, the boy has reportedly lost vision in his left eye and has lost muscle control on one side of his face.

Court documents state that in the ambulance, the boy allegedly told his mother that his minor uncle took a gun from Saralu’s work belt, which was on a chair in his bedroom. When the victim took the gun to give it back to Saralu, the gun went off on his face. The boy reiterated this statement in a follow up interview on June 14.

At Saralu’s residence, officers stated that they found eight unsecured firearms, one was found near the boy and another was Saralu’s service firearm, which was in its holster inside a basket covered with clothes.

Police noted that several of the firearms found were in an unfinished closet that had no doors or plywood shelving, with no trigger locks and were not inside a safe.

When police asked him, Saralu said he did not have a safe yet.

It was only recently determined that Saralu’s service firearm was the one used in the accidental shooting after a ballistics test was conducted on three of the eight firearms that were found in the home.