Downtown attack leaves three dead Gunman shoots couple and their driver at Magallanes Street

What appeared to be another vigilante-style killing took the lives of a couple and their family driver when a masked man shot them at Magallanes st. at past 8 o'clock last night. The fatalities were identified as couple Zacarias and Esterlita "Telay" Flores and their driver Giovanie Renquezo, said homicide investigator Jojo Ursaiz.

Police are looking at two possible motives for the killing - drugs and revenge. The police have not yet gotten any statement from the family of the victims as of presstime.

A reliable source from the Cebu City Police Office told The Freeman last night that the couple were allegedly engaged in illegal drugs, in fact Telay fell in a raid conducted by elements of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch sometime in 2003 and was released from jail only last year.

In 1998, Telay was also arrested in another drug raid by operatives from the Carbon Police while in the year 2000 operatives from the Provincial Police also raided their house in Tuyan, Naga for the same reason. The angle of revenge is also being looked into since sometime in 2001, their son Renante allegedly shot dead a policeman in Ermita due to a personal grudge. Renante is now detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center and a murder case against him is still pending in court.

The couple reportedly came from barangay Ermita where they had a small store and were about to head home to Tuyan, Naga when they were attacked.

The victims were onboard a white Mitsubishi Pajero with plate number GNK 811. The vehicle was parked at a corner leading to barangay Ermita because the couple was waiting for their helper who was to go home with them along with their grandchild, said a neighbor of the victims in Ermita.

A trisikad driver who saw the incident said that while the Pajero was idling, two masked men onboard a blue Yamaha DT motorcycle with no plate number arrived at the area and parked across the road. The witness related that one of the two men disembarked from the motorbike and crossed the street walking towards the vehicle of the victims.

The man then stopped in front of the driver's side then shot Renquezo three times through the vehicle's windshield.

After shooting the driver, the man quickly moved to the passenger side of the vehicle and fired at Zacarias before opening the rear passenger side door to shoot Telay.

The gunman, who was estimated to stand between 5'7 and 5'8 and was of regular built, then went back to the waiting motorcycle and fled towards Tupas Street in barangay Pasil.

According to the trisikad driver, he heard about six bursts of gunfire, but the people who immediately rushed to the scene of the carnage were able to recover only five empty shells of a .45 cal. pistol, which they immediately turned over to the police, who responded to the alarm.

The bystanders were the ones who brought the victims to the nearby Cebu City Medical Center where physicians declared all three dead on arrival, said Ursaiz.

Zacarias was hit once on his head and twice on his chest. Telay was shot on her head and was also hit on the right side of her body while Renquezo sustained three gunshots on his chest.