Police hunt driver who killed employer

MANILA, Philippines – The authorities are now hunting for a family driver who killed his employer and wounded two others right inside the victims’ Quezon City home.

Cindy Nakayama, 49, succumbed to gunshot wounds in the head on Friday evening, some 18 hours after Mark Andrew Dalde attacked her past midnight Thursday.

Dalde, in his 20’s, is believed to have killed his boss out of anger as relatives recounted several arguments between him and Nakayama in the past.

The victims apparently had no record on their family driver, who was referred to them by an acquaintance and was hired only six months ago, police said.

Talipapa police station commander Supt. Michael Macapagal said Dalde was a stay-in driver at the Nakayama’s house in Union Village, Barangay (village) Culiat.

“We searched his personal belongings. There was no ID, not even a driver’s license,” the officer said in an interview.

Police were able to get camera footage showing Dalde and two unidentified companions walking away from the victims’ home after the shooting.

Nakayama died at the New Era Hospital at around 6:42 p.m. Friday due to gunshot wounds from an improvised gun that was left at the crime scene. Her 15-year-old daughter, Christine, and 56-year-old cousin, Elvira Umbas, survived with knife wounds on their chests and arms.

Police Officer 2 Romeo Nino II, case investigator, said the attack happened inside a second-floor bedroom as the women were about to go to bed.

Dalde and two men barged into the house and fired shots at the women, according to relatives who heard some scuffling from inside their rooms.

The other relatives quickly locked themselves inside their rooms and were spared, Macapagal said.

Nakayama’s relatives claimed that Dalde, who drove the family’s Toyota Fortuner, often talked back rudely whenever he was scolded by Nakayama.

Police have disregarded robbery as a motive since nothing appeared to have been taken from the victims’ house.

Citing witnesses’ accounts, Macapagal said the suspect was seen hanging around the second-floor terrace near Nakayama’s room two hours before the attack.

A village security guard claimed that on Thursday night, Dalde offered to bring him pancit or biko since a friend of his was celebrating a birthday and that Dalde was expecting guests.

Some 30 minutes before the attack, the guard saw two strangers come in with Dalde.