Ex-Cebu City prosecutor shot dead

Former Cebu city prosecutor Mary Ann Castro was shot dead by unknown assailants Thursday evening. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Former Cebu City prosecutor Mary Ann Castro was shot dead by an unknown assailant late Thursday evening, according to a report on Super Radyo dzBB.

The 50-year-old Castro was shot despite heightened police presence in Cebu City for the Sinulog Festival. Police said she was driving her car, a yellow Nissan, along Escario Street in Barangay Kamputhaw when ambushed.

Senior Inspector Edward Sanchez, Fuente Police Station chief, said Castro came from Ayala when still unidentified assailants shot her a few meters away from Cebu Park Lane.

According to an initial police report, Castro was still able to drive the vehicle more or less 100 meters before hitting the fence of a construction site.

The incident happened at 9:53 p.m., according to Sanchez.

Castro's car rammed into a wall of GI sheets of a private property.

Emergency personnel who responded said Castro no longer had vital signs.

Initial investigations said Castro had at least five gunshot wounds in her body and one in the neck.

Witnesses said the assailant was on board a motorcycle.

Henry Chapa, a security guard in one of the business establishments in the area, told reporters that while he was watching a fireworks display he heard several gunshots.

"Nakadungog ko sa buto sa armas. Mao dali-dali ko tan-aw asa dapit. Pero wala ko kita sa mga suspect," he said.

Sanchez said they were looking for possible angles like personal grudge and work-related issues since Castro was actively prosecuting drug cases in the past.

It was reported that Castro's body had been brought to the Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels in Mandaue City.

Castro, who served as prosecutor in the cities of Cebu and Talisay, was also assigned in the province of Masbate.

Castro was reported to have been suspended three times, the last of which was in January 2018, due to the legal case she was facing against her estranged husband Greco Sanchez.

In 2016, the High Tribunal suspended her for six months due to forum shopping when she had filed two separate petitions for the annulment of first marriage to Rocky Rommel Roa. — with Leo Udtohan/BAP/KBK, GMA News