Two shootings in broad daylight on Sunday—both by motorcycle-riding suspects—claimed the lives of a Filipino-Chinese businessman in Tacloban City and a senior citizen in Makati City.
Authorities in Tacloban identified the victim as Manuel Tan, 50, married and owner of ACN Hardware at Maharlika Highway, Lower Nula-tula in Barangay 74.
Three unidentified bike-riding gunmen shot Tan in front of his establishment at 6:55 a.m., investigators said.
In Makati, another motorcycle-riding assassin shot Jesus de Guzman, 63, a resident of Bangkal, as he and his wife were headed to church on board their car traveling along the Osmeña Highway Service Road at about 8:25 am.
Ramona Dimayuga, de Guzman’s wife, said they were aboard their silver Honda CRV when a man suddenly approached and fired at their vehicle.
Wearing an olive green jacket and a white helmet, the heavy-set suspect fled after the shooting, but left his motorcycle after passing an alley in Barangay Bangkal, police probers said.
Initial investigation in Tacloban disclosed that on Sunday, Tan arrived at his hardware store on board his vehicle, and while the security guard was about to open the gate, the three suspects approached the side of his car and shot him several times.
Tan sustained gunshot wounds to different parts of his body, police said. The suspects immediately fled on motorcycles.
Responding policemen brought Tan to the Eastern Visayas Medical Center, but the businessman was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Glenn Guzman at about 7:29 a.m. Sunday.
Police recovered three fired cartridge pieces, one fired bullet and two live ammunition for a .45 caliber pistol.
In Makati, a priest tried to approach de Guzman’s vehicle to give him the last sacrament, but was escorted by police away from the scene, where they recovered shells of a .9mm firearm.
CCTV cameras may have captured the direction where the suspect fled, Barangay Bangkal chairman Mario Montañez said.
“There’s a portion where the perpetrator passed by inside an alley where there was a CCTV camera,” he told ABSCBN News.
“One of the victims said the suspect was on board a motorcycle, a single rider wearing a helmet. Though at first the colors did not match, so we tried to scan our cameras when it could match the time frame and the description of the witness,” Montañez said.
The village chairman said they will continue to look for more CCTV footage that might have captured the incident.