CEBU CITY - Just a day after his brother survived an ambush attempt, a hotel owner here was killed when a still unidentified gunman riddled him with bullets in an ambush late Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Tisa, this city.
Manuel Ting, 72, owner of Parklane International Hotel and ABCED System Corporation, a dealer of electrical and other hardware products, died on the spot after a gunman fired 22 rounds of a still undetermined automatic weapon near the corner F. Llamas and Katipunan Sts. in Barangay Tisa.
Ting sustained four gunshot wounds on his head, seven on his chest and was also hit on both his arms and other parts of the body. His brother, Nicholas, survived an earlier slay try in Barangay Cabangcalan, Mandaue City, less than 24 hours before Ting was killed.
Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador said the gunman was in an all-black get-up and did not conceal his face with a helmet. A witness said the gunman was already seen standing in the area two hours before the shooting.
The lone gunman was believed to have used an Uzi submachine gun. The shots shattered the window of the driver's side. Ting's car collided with a Toyota Avanza (YGX 842) when he tried to avoid the gunman.
Comendador said they are looking at various angles in the ambush of Manuel and the shooting of his brother, including business rivalry, personal grudges, and love triangle.
He added they are coordinating with the Mandaue City Police Office as he believes that the killing of Ting is related to the ambush of his younger brother, Nicholas. He also said they will try to confirm earlier allegations that the two brothers were not in good terms.
Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, Deputy Director for Operations of the Police Regional Office-7, said that he was tasked by PRO-7 Director Lani-O Nerez to create a special task force for the immediate solution of the case.
Loot believes that the gunman was a professional killer.
Loot, who is Ting's godson, described the victim as a soft-spoken person without enemies. He said that if Manuel would have had an enemy in his family, it would be Nicholas.
Cebu City mayor-elect Michael Rama, who went to the hospital, asked the police to solve the killing. "Solve the problem. Look for the assassin," said Rama, a family friend of Manuel Ting.
