Two Chinese nationals are suspects in the shooting deaths of two Chinese diplomats at a restaurant in the Philippines on Wednesday, according to local police.
Gunshots rang out at a restaurant in Cebu City where a group of Chinese diplomats were having lunch, Col. Romeo Santander, superintendent of Cebu Police City Intelligence Branch told CNN.
Two employees of Cebu’s Chinese consulate were shot dead — a woman named Hui Li and a man named Sun Shen. Consul General Song Ronghua was wounded, Santander added.
Retired official, wife named as suspects
Li Qingliang, 60, and his wife, Guo Jing, 57, are suspects in the shooting. The Philippines News Agency said that Li was a retired consular official but other reports suggested his wife was the diplomat.
Authorities found a .45-caliber pistol at the scene and are investigating the motive for the attack.
Santander said that closed-circuit TV video shows what appears to be an argument breaking out among the nine Chinese guests while hired singers were singing “Happy Birthday” in a private room at the restaurant.
The footage shows Li firing a gun and shooting Hui in the head, and his wife Guo taking the weapon from the table, he said.
Li and Guo fled the scene in a vehicle but were later arrested, three kilometers away at the consular office.
They have been taken into custody, he added.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the case will be handled in accordance with “relevant international treaties and bilateral consular agreements.”