Lawyer shot dead in Uber on way to airport with his mother

‘I can’t explain the pain, the heaviness I have in my heart,’ his mother wrote in a Facebook post

A government attorney from the Philippines, who was visiting Philadelphia, was shot and killed while in an Uber alongside his mother on the way to the airport.

On Sunday, Philadelphia police said that John Albert Laylo, 36, and his mother were in the rideshare vehicle at 4.10am on Saturday, travelling from University City to Philadelphia International airport when the car was targeted by as many as 15 shots. They were fired into the rear window and the driver’s side of the car.

The Uber was stopped at a red light when the shooter got out of a car from behind the Uber, police said. Mr Laylo and his mother had been in Philadelphia visiting family and were headed to the airport to fly to Chicago, CBS Philadelphia reported.

The Filipino consulate general confirmed that Mr Laylo was a government lawyer.

Police took Mr Laylo to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he was hospitalized in a very critical condition. Law enforcement said Mr Laylo was put on life support before he was pronounced dead at 10.33am.

According to the police’s preliminary investigation, the shooter stepped out of an unidentified black car, which could have been a Nissan Maxima. Police said the vehicle also pulled up next to the Uber and fired several shots at the driver’s side before driving away.

Investigators are working to obtain surveillance video to identify the car used by the shooter. Police have said that the shooting appears to have been random, and possibly connected to road rage.

Mr Laylo’s mother, Leah Bustamante Laylo, posted photos of the two of them on Facebook from New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. She said on Sunday that they showed “my last happy moments with my son Jal who passed away this morning”.

“I thank God for the 35 years of his life. I’m beyond grateful for having a good, smart, generous, loving, caring son,” she added. “Before he left he made sure we had fun!”

She wrote that “never did I imagine or dream that” their vacation would end like this. “We travelled together and we are supposed to go home together! I will bring him home soon in a box!”

“My son has a lot of dreams a lot of plans, hopes and everything! He’s gone now. I can’t explain the pain, the heaviness I have in my heart. It took me hours to post this because still I can’t believe this happened!” Ms Bustamante Laylo wrote in the Facebook post.