Taxi driver shot in front of wife and kids

Two men were murdered over the weekend: one in Hattieville and the other in the twin-town of Santa Elena/San Ignacio. In Hattieville, a resident was found with his throat slit in a dug-out pool. In Santa Elena, a taxi driver was shot in front of his common-law-wife and her three children. She believes it is a crime of passion. News Five’s Delahnie Bain reports from Santa Elena.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting
Thirty year old taxi driver, Mario Chi, was with his family on Sunday night, in the Hillview area of Santa Elena when they were surprised by an armed intruder.

Anna Elizabeth Uck, Common-Law-Wife, Deceased (Translated)
“We were eating and we started to play Chess with Juni, the youngest child. And everything was well and he told me that he was going to help me win the game. Regretfully, I saw the look in his eyes as saw the gunman behind me. We were all at the table and I saw the gun pointed at him. Everything happened so quickly and then the shot went off. I got up and he pointed the gun at me. In that moment, Mario went towards the bedroom and as the gunman was pointing the gun at me I ran for refuge at the kitchen. In seconds I tried to open the backdoor but I couldn’t. And I returned and saw that the man had already left.”

Insp. Dinsdale Thompson, 2nd O.C., San Ignacio Police
“A gentleman has received gunshot wounds to his right shoulder, whereby he was transported, not by police but by family members, over to the San Ignacio Hospital. Upon our arrival there at the hospital, we found the lifeless body of one Mario Chi, a taxi driver of Santa Elena.”

Chi and his common-law-wife, Anna Elizabeth Uck, only lived in Hillview for about a month. The police have persons of interest in custody, but Uck strongly believes the crime was orchestrated by her jealous ex-husband.

Anna Elizabeth Uck
“One day he told me that he could kill Mario and remove him from my path. That all he had to do was hire someone from Melchor to kill him, and it would be that easy. That’s why I think it could be him. That’s why he is my prime suspect. The only problem was that my ex-husband did not believe that anything between me and him was over. I was no longer living with him. I was renting this house with Mario. He rented this house so that we could live together. The only problem was that he did not face the reality that we were completely over and he was constantly calling but Mario never spoke ill of him or offended him.”

Insp. Dinsdale Thompson
“At the moment, we are working hard upon the investigation. We have so far detained or picked up two individuals who we believe may be in a position to assist us in our investigation. But so far we haven’t made an arrest relating to the incident.”

While a definite motive has not been established, police have ruled out robbery because nothing was taken from the home. Delahnie Bain for News Five.

Police claim that gunman was slim and short and had a t-shirt over his head to conceal his identity.