Former Philippine Star reporter and Philippine Tourism official Nixon Kua died at 10:35 p.m. yesterday, while the four suspects who shot him and his brother Allyson surrendered to the police, various news sources have reported.
The suspects have been identified as Noel Garcia, John Rey Cruz, Michael Molino, and Darwin Samiano, according to Laguna police director Sr. Supt. Gilbert Cruz.
Kua’s wife Susan and their two children, Sue Ann, 21, and son Daryl, positively identified the suspects from police photographs of crime suspects in Calamba City.
“They immediately pointed to the pictures of the suspects as the ones they saw during the shooting and robbery operation,” said Cruz in a news report. “They are very sure.”
The suspects will be presented to the media at Camp Vicente Lim today.
Meanwhile, Allyxon, 47, is now in stable condition.
Police authorities conducted a raid earlier yesterday at the suspects’ house in Barangay Maunong, close to Ayala Greenfields in Calamba City, Laguna where the Kua brothers live, but the suspects escaped.
Said suspects, according to Cruz, have pending warrants of arrest as well for gang-raping a minor, which is a non-bailable offense. He said, “The suspects appear to be raising a large amount of money to settle their case with their rape victim.”
According to reports, the suspects have also been notorious for various illegal activities in the area.
Kua was confined at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Calamba Medical Center following gunshot wounds in the face and body at close range. He was with his wife and two children, parking his silver Mazda SUV near his brother’s house when the four armed suspects attacked him, taking advantage of the heavy downpour around 8pm last Saturday.
According to Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent James Melad, one of the suspects snatched Sue Ann’s bag containing P90,000, said to be salary of their workers at home, and an Apple iPhone. He also revealed in various news reports that said suspects also grabbed Sue Ann’s necklace.
Allyson tried to help his brother, but the suspects shot him, too.
Cruz said this could be a case of inside job. “We are looking for an insider who could have provided information to the suspects about the payroll money and other details about the Kuas’ family,” he said. “We strongly believe that somebody tipped off the suspects about the fact that the victim carries a large amount of cash on Saturdays,” he added.
Eight workers on a landscaping job at Kua’s residence, which is a block away from his brother Allyson’s house, were invited for questioning but were immediately released for lack of evidence.
But Cruz said even the contractor will also be invited for questioning to verify if the four suspects were among the workers he hired for the landscaping job.
Two more workers, who are said to be natives of Quezon and Bicol, have not gone back to work for the past few days. Police authorities are now looking for them.
Melad said the exclusive Ayala subdivision is heavily guarded. He noted that even a police official like him had a difficult time entering the said subdivision. So he said that the suspects could have come inside the guarded subdivision through an improvised ladder and then climbed the fence at the back of the village, which is close to the home of the suspects.
But Melad said the incident has no indication that it is work-related, with Kua being a journalist.
