Police release facial sketch of businessman’s shooter

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Police Office has released the cartographic sketch of one of the gunmen who shot a businessman and his daughter outside their house along Happy Valley Road, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

CCPO director Senior Superintendent Noli Romana said that they will still come up with the computer-generated facial composite of the other suspect once the witness will be available to give statements to the police.

 It has been a week since Jonathan Emmanuel Go, 38, and his daughter, Joan Emmanuelle, 7, were ambushed while inside their car by two unidentified gunmen. Jonathan was on his way to bring his daughter to school.

“I think the witness is still waiting for the go signal of Jonathan who happens to be still, hindi pa natin makausap,” he said.

 He added that Jonathan is recovering after sustaining a shot to the left part of his body.  Joan suffered a gunshot wound to her right arm but was already reported to be out of danger.

 “Hayaan muna nating maka-recover para mas factual ang recollection of what happened. Habang hindi pa nakakausap, we will continue doing the victim servicing,” Romana said.

 Felix Bejec, Jonathan’s helper, testified that he saw the two men standing outside their gate and fired at the victims just as their car went out of the gate.

 One of the suspects was reportedly wearing a ball cap, black shirt and long jeans and was standing near the gate of the victim’s house while the other gunman was wearing a ball cap, white shirt and long pants. The latter reportedly kept on walking back and forth in front of the gate.

 He added that both assailants fled towards the waiting motorcycle located around fifty meters from the crime scene. The driver of the motorcycle was wearing a helmet.

 The police also recovered footage of the attack recorded by a CCTV camera installed on one of the houses inside the compound.

 While they initially determined three to four motives of the killing attempt, Romana said that they have prioritized the angle on personal grudge and eliminated other possible reasons such as business and work-related motives.

 “Murder cases are usually personal between the mastermind and the victim. It got to be something deeper than what it appears to be,” he said.

 He added that the identity of the mastermind and the assailants could still be anybody as of now but the police have slowly eliminated those who are far from the main motive of the ambush.

 Romana further assured the family that they will do their job to solve the case.

“We will get the culprits. With or without cooperation of the family, somebody has to be responsible for the incident,” he stated.

Romana earlier said that they are eyeing Jonathan’s problem which started last year when the victim reported to the police about a death threat he received in 2013.

Go is engaged in buying and selling automobile spare parts. He previously worked in his cousin’s business, AJL Surplus, a distributor of secondhand vehicles.  (FREEMAN)