Four people in the Philippines, including a mayor and an 18-month-old baby, are dead after being shot outside an airport Friday by gunmen on motorcycles, The New York Times reported.
Mayor Ukol Talumpa, of Labangan, a southern Philippine town, and the others were shot outside Terminal 3 at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Airport Manager Jose Angel Honrado said the gunmen escaped and several others were also wounded, the Times reported.
According to media reports, Talumpa arrived at the airport near 11 a.m. from the southern province of Zamboanga del Sur. He was waiting to be transported when the gunmen opened fire in the crowded terminal, the Times reported. The mayor, his wife, his nephew and the baby boy of a bystander were killed.
"We condemn this blatant act of violence that has killed an innocent bystander and imperiled the safety of citizens in the airport," Herminio Coloma Jr., spokesman for President Beningo S. Aquino III, said Friday.
"We are still investigating the motive," Honrado said.
Political violence is common in the Zamboanga province where the mayor is from. Two previous attempts have been made on Talumpa's life before he was elected mayor in May. The first was in 2012, when then vice mayor Talumpa, and one of his nephews were wounded in an attack in Manila, SFGate reported. Then in 2012 a grenade was launched at Talumpa and his wife, Lea Talumpa, in Pagadian City.
Investigators don't yet know exactly how many gunmen were involved. SFGate reported that an airport car rental dispatcher said one of them on the motorcycle was wearing what looked like a police uniform.
The dispatcher said the men, two on one motorcycle, were chased by airport security, but they were able to weave through standing cars and escape, SFGate reported. The airport is named after President Beningo's father who was murdered 30 years ago, SFGate reported.
