CEBU CITY – Personal grudge is being eyed as a motive in Thursday’s night ambush in Mandaue City, Cebu that killed a female lawyer and wounded her law partner and staff member.
Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el Jr., Mandaue City Police Office director, said investigators were inclined to believe that the ambush was not related to the job of lady lawyer Amelie Ocañada-Alegre, 35, because she was not handling controversial cases.
Wounded were lawyer Briccio Boholst, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter and Mandaue city administrator; and staff member Antonio Pino.
Natu-el said they would look into the claim of Amelie’s mother that her estranged husband, Ryan Alegre, had threatened to kill her.
The petition to annul their marriage remains pending. The couple do not have a child, but reports said there were contentions on the division of property.
Ryan and Amelie got married in 2004 but broke up four years later when she allegedly found out that he was having an affair.
Natu-el said Ryan would not be considered a suspect until such a time that the suspicion would be supported by evidence.
He said investigators were still trying to contact Amelie’s husband.
Another angle being looked into was the report that an employee of the law office was mad at Amelie after she fired him.
Natu-el said they were on the process of getting statements from the witnesses and reviewing the footage of the CCTV camera to get clues on the identities of the gunmen.
Alegre, who lived in a condominium in Cebu Business Park, was driving her BMW sedan with Boholst and Pino after attending a meeting.
She was supposed to drop off Boholst in Barangay Looc in Mandaue when one of the two men riding a motorcycle fired several shots at the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Alegre succumbed to three gunshot wounds in her left jaw, left arm, and chest.
Boholst, 55, was hit in the left leg and Pino in the stomach, but they were not fatally wounded.
At least 7 empty shells from 9mm pistol were recovered from the crime scene.
Police said Amelie was the target because the shots were directed at the driver’s side. JE