Batangas hotel owner shot dead

MANILA, Philippines – A hotel owner was shot dead by unidentified men who posed as guests at his establishment in Sto. Tomas town in Batangas on Monday.

Jussein San Juan, 36, of Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City, was at the lobby of the Junction Inn Mansion Hotel in Barangay Uno when the assailants arrived at around 10:30 a.m., town police chief Superintendent Noel Nuñez said.

One of the assailants, described as wearing a pair of dark glasses and a gray shirt, pretended to check in while the other approached San Juan, pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and shot the victim at close range.

San Juan died while being treated at the St. Francis Cabrini Hospital for gunshots to the head and body.

The assailants fled in a tricycle.

Police said the hotel has no closed-circuit television camera and they would check if nearby establishments have CCTVs that could help solve the killing.

Police are eyeing family disputes and business rivalry as motives for the killing.

Nuñez said San Juan had received threats.

Aside from operating a hotel, San Juan’s family owns a jewelry shop, a pawnshop, a gasoline station and a motel in Tanauan City.

A task group has been created to investigate the incident.

Probers recovered four bullet shells for a.45 caliber pistol and one for a .40 caliber from the crime scene.