Aussie trader, vacationing in Cebu with family, shot

A 48-year-old Australian, who runs a business in Bohol, was shot in front of his wife and stepchildren as he alighted from a taxi at a pension house in the corner of Junquera and P. del Rosario Streets the other night.

The victim, William Pampling, was hit once in his right face and was immediately taken by his family to a private hospital where he is now recuperating.

The unidentified assailant, who casually walked toward P. del Rosario Street right after shooting Pampling at close range, had a white cloth bound around his head and used a handgun of still undertermined caliber.

Witnesses described the lone gunman as about 5'6" tall, and wore a light T-shirt and dark pants.

Homicide investigator SPO3 Rey Cuyos said Pampling had just arrived at the pension house from a shopping mall-with his 49-year-old wife Melody, 22-year-old stepson Solomon Taylor, and 15-year-old stepdaughter-when attacked.

They came to Cebu City for the holidays and have been staying at the pension house since Wednesday. The family, who has a house in Perth, Australia, had been living at Tagbilaran City in Bohol where William maintains a business selling electric bicycles.

Cuyos said that, when William opened the door of the taxi to disembark, the assailant immediately approached and shot him.

Cuyos said the investigation of the shooting has looked into business rivalry and personal matters, based on initial accounts from the victim's family, as possible motives in the attack.

The family has so far said they do not know if William had enemies in Tagbilaran. The police could not talk personally with the victim for now. - Edwin Ian Melecio