Casino financier slain in Tondo

MANILA, Philippines - A casino financier was gunned down by two men in front of his house in Tondo, Manila while talking to some of his employees just before noon yesterday.

Armando Tudla, 40, died at the Mary Johnston Hospital. One of his companions, Christopher Roxas, 33, was taken to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center for gunshot wounds.

Footage from a closed-circuit television camera at the village hall of Barangay 89 Zone 7 showed two men on a motorcycle stopping and shooting at Tudla a few seconds after a female vendor approached him and tried to sell him movies on digital video discs. The vendor was also seen on surveillance footage calling on her cell phone just before the two men attacked Tudla.

Tudla and Roxas ran toward Franco street. Roxas ran to the market while Tudla fell to the ground near the Barangay 86 village hall, where the gunmen shot him repeatedly.

Police investigators have in their possession copies of surveillance footage from the two village halls and are trying to identify Tudla’s attackers.

A friend of the victim said it is possible that someone who owed Tudla a huge sum in the casino may be behind the killing.