Japanese man shot dead in Las Pinas

From abs-cbnnews.com:

Kyodo News

Posted at 10/21/2014 7:05 PM | Updated as of 10/21/2014 7:05 PM

MANILA – Investigators are looking into the possible involvement of at least two Japanese men in the killing of a 32-year-old Japanese businessman over the weekend, a police official said Monday.

Police officer Rey Viloria said one of the Japanese men was with the victim Shinsuke Toba, a native of Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture who was shot dead around 11:30 p.m. Saturday in a dimly-lit street in the Las Pinas suburb in Metro Manila.

Toba, who arrived in Manila on Friday, was in a taxi with the still unidentified Japanese man when shot at close-range by a helmet-clad, motorcycle-riding gunman.

The cab driver told police the victim’s companion, who was seated in the front passenger seat, instructed him to pull over in the roadside to urinate, but the Japanese man “disappeared” after the shooting.

“So, this Japanese man is a person of interest for now,” said Viloria.

He said the other “person of interest” is also a Japanese man who had dinner with the victim around 10 p.m. Saturday at a steak house in the Malate suburb.

“We are tracing the whereabouts of these two men,” Viloria said, adding the police are looking for a motive for the killing.

Police found a bullet casing inside the taxi, the victim’s mobile phone and a shoulder bag containing cash and other personal effects.

Toba died at a local hospital of gunshot wounds to the face and body.