CEBU CITY – A 42-year-old woman was gunned down outside a cemetery in Barangay Carreta here on Monday morning, May 15.
POLICE examine the body of Theresa Zuniega, who was gunned down outside a public cemetery in Barangay Carreta, Cebu City on Monday morning, May 15. (Calvin D. Cordova)
Police said Theresa Zuniega was tending to the flowers and “lapida” (headstone) that she was selling outside the Carreta Cemetery when he was shot by a lone gunman at past 10 a.m.
Police Major Eraño Regidor, chief of the Mabolo Police Station, said illegal drugs trade is one of the angles that the police are eyeing as a possible motive of the attack.
Regidor said police have already identified an individual who could be behind the killing.
He added that the victim’s live-in partner is currently detained at the Cebu City Jail for drug charges.
According to the information that the police received, the live-in partner continued to engage in illegal drug activities even if in detention.
“Initially, that's the angle that we are looking at. Because if he was just selling flowers, that’s not enough reason that someone will have the motive to kill her and the suspect is also a drug personality. The victim’s live-in partner, even if he is in jail, is still allegedly involved in illegal drugs,” Regidor said.
Police said that before she was killed, the victim already received threats.
A few days before the attack, a man on a motorcycle also kept coming back in the area looking for the victim.
Police said the victim was warned by her relatives to avoid going to the area first because someone had been suspiciously looking for her.