Canadian bar owner killed in Angeles City ambush

ANGELES CITY — A 43-year-old Canadian who owns a well-known bar here was killed while his 18-year-old girlfriend was wounded in an ambush at about 12:25 a.m. in Barangay Malabanias in this city yesterday.

The ambush of John Hanver, owner of the Thunderstruck Rock and Roll Emporium bar along Fields avenue near Clark Field, followed the killing of another still unidentified Caucasian whose body was found dumped some 15 kilometers south of this city in Barangay Akle in Mexico town last Monday.

Senior Inspector Ramon Francia of Station 4 of the local police said that Hanver and his girlfriend Mylene Tuniaco were on board a Honda motorcycle when they were peppered with bullets at the corner of Malabanias and Elvira streets in Barangay Malabanias at about 12:25 a.m.

The still unidentified ambushers, on board a red car, sped north after firing their M-16 Armalite rifle at their targets. The victims were on their way to Hanver’s home at 110 Quezon st., Josefaville subdivision in Malabanias.

Francia said that Tuniaco sustained a wound in her left arm and was later rushed to the Ospital ning Angeles where she was pronounced out of danger.

Hanver sustained several wounds in different parts of his body and died on the spot. Fourteen empty shells from an M-16 Armalite rifle were recovered from the ambush site.

"We have no clues yet as to the identities and motive of the ambushers," Francia added.

Hanver, a divorcee, is also known here as a philanthropist and recently donated some P100,000 raised from fellow foreigners here for a local foundation supporting women’s rights.

Meanwhile, SPO1 Daniel Gonzalez of the Mexico police has appealed to either the US or Australian embassies to help identify another Caucasian whose body was found dumped in a puddle of mud along the North Expressway in Barangay Akle in his town last Monday morning.

He theorized that the victim, about 50 to 55 years old, could be a foreigner based in Angeles which is frequented by Caucasian tourists mostly either American or Australian, and that his body was merely dumped in Akle.

Gonzalez said that the victim, about 5’9" tall, had no wallet nor any other possession that could identify him.

The body has remained at the local Tumang funeral parlor since it was found by a farmer.

Gonzalez said the crime could be readily solved once the identity of the victim is established. He also said that the only distinguishing mark in the body was a wart in the middle section of the back and two more warts on each of the shoulder blades.

He said that the victim had a round face with blue eyes and light, thinning hair.