MANILA, Philippines – “Sorry Mama, sorry Papa.”
These were the last discernable words a Chinese man suspected of killing his girlfriend said, before grabbing a police gun and shooting himself dead.
Gong Shu Yang, 27, arrested last Thursday for the grisly murder of 24-year-old Zhao Chun Lan on January 14, killed himself Saturday evening as he was being brought to the Manila city prosecutor’s office for inquest proceedings.
Gong was caught by a closed circuit television camera arguing with Zhao before ramming her with his car, repeatedly running her over and even stabbing her along the Roxas Boulevard service road at the back of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas building in Malate.
He was arrested Thursday at Taft Tower along Taft Avenue in Malate.
At around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Gong was brought out of the Manila Police District Homicide section jail and was headed to the city fiscal office escorted by two policemen and a driver via a police car.
Though in handcuffs and flanked by the escorts, Gong managed to yank out the service firearm of Senior Police Officer 1 Charles Duran from his holster and shoot himself under his chin, MPD Homicide section chief Senior Inspector Joselito de Ocampo told the Inquirer.
Gong apparently saw the opportunity when the car stopped at a red light at the intersection of Taft Avenue and Ayala Avenue and Duran, who was seated to his left, bent over to pick up some documents that had fallen to the floor.
Quoting his men, De Ocampo said that prior to the suicide, Gong was muttering in Chinese, “like he was saying a prayer,” and the only phrase they understood was “Sorry Mama, sorry Papa.”
The policemen tried to rush Gong to the Philippine General Hospital but he was already dead on arrival. The bullet did not exit and remained embedded in his head, De Ocampo said.
Gong’s remains are due for autopsy Sunday afternoon at the St. Yvan Funeral Parlor in Manila.
His body will be examined for gun powder. Duran, his fellow escort Senior Police Officer 1 Alonzo Layugan, and the police car driver will also be subjected to a paraffin test to determine no foul play was involved, De Ocampo said.