THE Office of the Attorney General, through Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds, will call 11 doctors from the CNMI and Guam to testify in the jury trial of Police Officer Raymond Lizama Saralu.
The prosecution will also call 33 CNMI Department of Public Safety officers and employees, and Guam Police Department officers, including a ballistics expert, among others, to testify in the trial.
Presiding over the case, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho said the jury trial will commence on May 6 at 9 a.m.
The judge also scheduled a pre-trial conference for April 3 at 10 a.m.
Saralu, 27, is facing six counts of storage of firearms charges for his failure to secure six firearms in his possession, which police said resulted in an accidental discharge of a weapon that seriously injured his 7-year-old nephew on May 21, 2023.
Saralu was also charged with one count of obstructing justice for removing his government-issued firearm — the actual evidence used in the commission of the crime — and replacing it with his personal firearm.
Each of the five counts is punishable by a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment of not more than 180 days, or both.
One count of the storage of firearms charge involved Saralu’s government-issued firearm, Glock 19 Gen5 9mm, which caused serious bodily injury to the minor victim. The offense is punishable by a $5,000 fine, and/or five years’ imprisonment.
The obstructing justice charge against Saralu is punishable by one-year imprisonment and a fine of $1,000, or both.
The complaint
According to the complaint and affidavit of probable cause in support of the issuance of an arrest warrant, Saralu called DPS 911 dispatch on May 21, 2023, at about 9:06 p.m., requesting an ambulance to his residence in Kagman III.
On the same night, the 7-year-old victim was placed in the intensive care unit of the Commonwealth Health Center. He suffered an entry wound on the left side of his face. His jaw was fractured and some of his teeth were broken.
Responding police officers found a total of eight unsecured firearms in different areas of Saralu’s residence. An investigator stated that some of the firearms were found in an unfinished closet space that had no doors.
A Phoenix Arms HP22A .22 handgun and an Aero Precision LLC X15 AR were procured from Saralu’s personal vehicle while a Remington 870 pump action shotgun, a Ruger Prescott handgun, a Glock 43, a Benjamin .177, a Ruger .22 Rifle, and a government-issued handgun, a Glock 19 Gen 5 9mm, were found inside his residence.
Saralu was not charged for the possession of a Ruger Prescott handgun and a Benjamin .177 rifle.
The mother of the victim told police that she learned from her son that another boy took the gun from Saralu’s belt. When the victim took the gun from the other boy, the gun discharged.
The victim was later transported to Guam Memorial Hospital by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter with his parents.
Medical personnel at GMH removed shrapnel from the boy’s face on May 23, 2023, and conducted a palate repair.
Shrapnel removed during the surgery was obtained by the Guam Police Department and submitted to the Guam Forensic Laboratory as evidence.
Based on the ballistic evidence collected by investigators at the location and analyzed by the Guam Police Department crime lab, the shell casings and fragments originated from Saralu’s government-issued firearm, the Department of Public Safety stated.
Saralu was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and battery, and storage of firearms.
According to DPS, Saralu is a seven-year police veteran who graduated from the Police Academy in 2016.
DPS stated that Saralu has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the case.
