Gunman drank beer before shooting housewife – probers

MANILA, Philippines – The man who shot dead a 63-year-old housewife in San Juan City on Dec. 24 had a bottle of beer before staging the ambush, police said yesterday.

Investigators said the assailant bought beer at a store and drank it while waiting for Susan Tan Uy to emerge from her house on Mariposa street in Quezon City.

The assailant failed to finish his beer as Uy and her friend came out of her house in a Toyota RAV4 at around 7:10 a.m., a witness told investigators.

The assailant and his companion, riding a motorcycle, tailed Uy’s vehicle until he ambushed her at the corner of Wilson street and Ortigas Avenue in Greenhills around 20 minutes later, police said.

Investigators are coordinating with shops along the route taken by Uy in the hope that the images of the assailant and his companion were caught by closed-circuit television cameras.

A police official strongly believes the two men have been “shadowing” Uy for several days – the victim usually left her house early in the morning and would be out all day.

Uy was on her way to buy flowers when she was ambushed, said Chief Superintendent Elmer Jamias, director of the Eastern Police District.

Investigators had ruled out robbery as the motive because Uy’s handbag, containing cash and valuables, was intact.

According to Jamias, Uy’s relatives are in shock but promised to cooperate in the investigation.

Uy had been separated from her husband, a flour mill owner, for more than 20 years.