Mindanao Publisher Killed

      Pagadian City Star publisher William "Billy" Yap Yu was shot dead in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao Sunday morning, May 14. Supt. Paisal Umpa, acting city police director, told reporters they are looking at several angles including his rift with several individuals in the city.

      Yu sustained a single bullet wound from a 45 cal. Pistol. The bullet pierced his left arm, passing through a major heart artery and then exiting his right arm, attending doctors at the Pagadian City Medical Center said. Yu died on the spot.

     Two witnesses currently in police custody described the gunman as between 30 to 35 years old, of medium build, fair complexioned and wearing a black sleeveless shirt and fatigue pants. They said the suspect waited for Yu at a gas station adjacent to the one he owned around 8:20 A.M. After the shooting, the suspect casually walked towards a waiting getaway motorcycle and fled. Pagadian Police have circulated a cartographic sketch of the triggerman.

       One of the witnesses, a motorcab driver who gave police a description of the gunman, said that before the killing the gunman told several people near the crime scene not to interfere.

      Another witness said the gunman was earlier seen talking with several unidentified but uniformed Philippine Army men aboard a passenger jeepney on route to the Army's First Infantry Division in Pulacan, Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, about 15 kilometers north of Pagadian City.

      Police are trying to establish the identities of the Army soldiers to find out if the knew the gunman.

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