P.5M bounty for cager Ali Peek’s shooter
Who would want to harm or kill Ali Peek?
This was what police investigators in Mandaluyong were trying to determine Tuesday after they failed to turn up clues in the shooting of the 36-year-old Filipino-American basketball player.
“Even Peek was shocked and clueless. He said he has no enemies,” case investigator Police Officer 2 Donald Bañez told the Inquirer.
A reward of P500,000 has been offered by Talk ‘N Text (TNT) owner Manny V. Pangilinan for the man who shot the cager.
Initially, the robbery angle cropped up after Peek told police probers at the hospital that before he was shot, someone tried to grab his bag although he managed to snatch it back.
“He thought the man was just one of his fans. All of a sudden, the man shot him,” Bañez said.
He added, however, that the bag-grabbing may be just an attempt to mask the gunman’s real intention.
Senior Superintendent Armando Bolalin, Mandaluyong police chief, said that before the shooting, Peek’s attacker was spotted loitering near the gym. The man even asked one of the janitors about the basketball court’s rental rates.
The police Tuesday released a computer-generated image of the gunman to seek the public’s help in identifying him.
Bolalin said witnesses described the shooter as between 32 and 36 years old, 5’5” to 5’6” in height, with dark complexion and of medium build.
The 6’4” Peek was born in Hawaii and plays center for the team in the Philippine Basketball Association.
He was shot in the nape in the parking lot of RFM Gym at the corner of Sheridan and Pioneer Streets in Mandaluyong City at 7:15 p.m. on Monday.
Initial reports said he was about to board his car when a man approached him from behind and shot him.
No one saw the actual shooting but the gym’s janitor and at least two bystanders saw a man wearing a light green T-shirt over a pair of khaki cargo shorts running away from Peek’s car.
“Then they saw Peek holding his nape and bleeding,” Bolalin said.
The cager was taken to The Medical City where he was to be operated on for his injuries.
Stable but surgery needed
TNT head coach Chot Reyes said Peek was in stable condition at The Medical City although he would need surgery to remove the bullet.
“The bullet missed any major artery or organ. It’s lodged at the base of his skull and they have to make a decision whether to surgically remove the bullet or leave it there,” said Reyes. “It’s going to be difficult to remove it.”
He added that doctors were waiting for Peek’s mother to arrive from the United States so that she could make the decision.
“He’s [Peek] a very strong person but obviously these things have a way of getting [to] you so he’s in a state of semi-shock,” said Reyes. “The enormity of what happened has just started to sink in.”
“It’s been hard seeing my bro like this. Ali needs all the support he can get. Please continue to pray for his recovery,” said B-Meg’s Don Allado, Peek’s close friend and one of the first players to arrive at the hospital along with TNT’s Jimmy Alapag.
Reyes said that this year was tough for the team compared with last season, which he described as relatively injury-free.
“Then come Ali’s incident. We will need to find a way to put this behind us and play a team smarting from a bad loss. It won’t be easy, but it will show what we are made of,” he added.
