DAVAO CITY: The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is deepening its investigation on the killing of lawyer Hilda Mahinay-Sapie and her husband, Muhaimen Mohammad Sapie, a former mayor of Panamao Sulu.

The Sapie couple were shot dead inside a high-end subdivision in Barangay Talomo District in this city at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The victims came out from their office within their residential premises at Solariega Subdivision after their radio program aired over Power Radio 76.1 FM when they were shot by an assailant still-at-large. DCPO chief Col. Kirby John Kraft said they have yet to gather enough evidence. 'We are still facing a blank wall because the shooting occurred with the presence of their family and friends and even their bodyguards. They heard the gunshots but could not see where they came from,' Kraft said. Mahinay-Sapie is known for legal involvement in land issues in the region after her retirement from the Department of Agrarian Reform a couple of years ago. The couple run a legal aid radio program on local radio stations here. The couple died on the way to the Southern Philippines Medical Center.