Ateneo Shooting: Who is the Gunman?

What we know so far.

by Pia Regalado

A body bag is taken away from the scene after three people were killed in a shooting at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City on July 24, 2022. Three people were killed in a rare shooting at a university in Manila, officials said, in what appears to have been a targeted political assassination.

Photo/s: Maria Tan / AFP

The man who shot dead three people near the Ateneo de Manila University last Sunday was a "determined assassin" whose motive was to kill the former town mayor in Basilan, police said.

It was an "isolated case" where Chao Tiao Yumol killed three people: former Lamitan mayor Rose Furigay, her executive assistant Victor Capistrano, and university security guard Jeneven Bandiala. Furigay's daughter, a graduate of the Ateneo Law School, was also injured.

READ: Shooting Near Ateneo Leaves Ex-Mayor, 2 Others Killed

Yumol, a 38-year-old medical doctor, hailed a Grab Taxi to enter the school grounds, Brig Gen. Remus Medina, the Quezon City police chief, told reporters. He had two guns with him, despite the NCR-wide gun ban for President Bongbong Marcos Jr's first State of the Nation Address, police said.

Yumol waited at the lobby of Areté, the university's creatives hub, where the law school graduation was supposed to take place, and fired at Rose Furigay when she arrived at the scene, said Medina.

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Here's what authorities have disclosed so far about Chao Tiao Yumol:

Yumol is a physician, said Medina, the QCPD head.
Yumol was the sole gunman, police said.
He has a verified Facebook account with more than 71,000 followers as of July 25.
Yumol claimed that Rose and her husband, incumbent Lamitan mayor Roderick Furigay, were drug lords in Basilan. He also alleged that the couple tried three times to have him ambushed.
The Furugays had filed 76 cyber libel cases against Yumol, which left him unable to practice his profession, said Medina. It was one of his motivations in shooting the former mayor, the police said.
When asked if Yumol went to Manila with the intention to kill Furigay, Medina said yes.
Yumol, who is from Lamitan, had no listed address in Metro Manila and was sleeping in his car prior to the incident, said Medina.
He brought two pistols, one equipped with a silencer, said Medina. Yumol told the police chief he was not inspected prior his entrance to the university.
He commandeered a vehicle to leave Ateneo then abandoned the car for a tricycle ride, according to CCTV footage gathered by the police, Medina told GMA News Monday. He then changed shirts and rode an e-jeepney before he was arrested by security forces less than 30 minutes after fleeing the university, the police said.
Yumol was also injured after his encounter with arresting officers, said Medina.

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