(CMFR/IFEX) – In the morning of Sunday 14 May 2000, the publisher of the “Pagadian City Star”, William “Billy” Yap Yu was shot dead by an assassin in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao. Acting City Police Director Paisal Umpa told reporters that they are looking at several angles of the incident, including rifts […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – In the morning of Sunday 14 May 2000, the publisher of the “Pagadian City Star”, William “Billy” Yap Yu was shot dead by an assassin in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao. Acting City Police Director Paisal Umpa told reporters that they are looking at several angles of the incident, including rifts between the publisher and several individuals in the city.
Yu sustained a single bullet wound from a 45 caliber pistol. According to attending doctors at the Pagadian City Medical Center, the bullet shot through his left arm, passed through a major heart artery and then exited through his right arm. The victim died on the spot.
Two witnesses currently in police custody described the gunman as between 30 and 35 years old, with a medium build, fair complexion and wearing a black sleeveless shirt and fatigue pants. They said the suspect waited for Yu at a gas station which was located adjacent to one owned by Yu at around 8:20 a.m. After shooting, the suspect casually walked over to a waiting getaway motorcycle and fled the scene. The police have circulated the cartographic sketch of the triggerman.
One of the witnesses, a motorcab driver who provided the physical profile of the gunmen to the police cartographic artist, said that before the killing, the gunman spoke in the Cebuan dialect to several people near the crime scene, telling them not to interfere.
The other witness stated that the gunman was seen casually talking with several unidentified uniformed army men who were aboard a passenger jeep which was on route to the army’s First Infantry Division in Pulacan, Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, which is located about fifteen kilometers north of Pagadian City.
Police are trying to establish the identities of the army soldiers to find out if they know the identity of the gunman.
