Man gunned down by men in ski mask

Two unidentified men, armed with short firearms, gunned down a 33-year-old Hong Kong Chinese and injured his woman companion during a dawn attack yesterday at a restaurant in Chalan Piao, according to police.

The victim, whose name was withheld by the Department of Public Safety, sustained multiple gunshot wounds after the suspects in ski mask opened fired at him while eating at BBQ Restaurant around 4:00 a.m..

The victim’s female companion sustained wounds from the shooting and was rushed to the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment.

Police investigators are still trying to establish the motive for the killing, and according to DPS sources who declined to be identified, this could be the handiwork of “professional killers.”

Based on a preliminary police report, the suspects walked into the restaurant casually, aimed their guns at the victim and pumped in several bullets into his body.

Pandemonium broke out at the restaurant as customers scampered for safety. Others rushed to the backdoor while the suspects shot the victim during the daring attack.

“After the shooting, only the woman companion was left inside the restaurant wailing and hugging the body of the man,” said one witness. The witness also told police investigators that the victim was a regular customer of BBQ Restaurant.

DPS received the call around 4:03 a.m. and when responding officers arrived at the scene, they found the body of the victim laying in a pool of blood.

The shooting incident has alarmed the community, some describing the incident as daring and blatant. Others have called for tighter control on guns.

“Saipan has never seen this kind of shooting incident so open and blatant. The victim was shot in full view of other people,” one resident of Chalan Piao said.

Another official, who refused to be named, said “I think the police should not only look after the killers. They need to find out how these people managed to have access to guns.”
DPS has stepped up efforts to crack down on organized crimes after the attempted kidnapping on the 13-year-old son of businessman James Lin, owner of a garment factory, in November last year by unidentified men at Saipan Community School.

But police investigators declined to link the killing to criminal syndicate saying it was still premature.