Police probe long list of potential suspects

The businessman shot in broad daylight on Tuesday is involved in about 40 court cases related to property and business interests, leaving the police with a long list of potential suspects.

Investigators spent some eight hours interviewing people yesterday and are expected to continue going through all of victim Joe Baldacchino’s legal adversaries.

Mr Baldacchino, a 51-year-old father of five, is still critical after he was shot in the back at point blank range by a motorcyclist wearing a helmet at about 8.30 a.m. near Hastings Garden in Valletta.

The businessman is the owner of the five-star Kempinski San Lawrenz Hotel in Gozo and also the founder of Baldacchino Group, which includes a woodworking business and a number of reception halls.

A list of potential suspects was drawn up and alternative motives beyond business connections were not being excluded, police sources said.

Investigators are also looking into a previous attempt on Mr Baldacchino’s life when a parcel bomb was left on his car’s tyre about two years ago. Luckily, the bomb did not go off.

Although he was not known to have received any other death threats since, it was still too early to draw any conclusions, the sources said.

On the day of the accident, he had just parked his car and was heading for the courts, to appear in a case against a former business partner. His frequent visits to the court made him “very predictable and easy to find”, the sources noted.

True to habit, he drove in and parked his Toyota Land Cruiser close to the House of the Four Winds. Unknown to him, he was followed by a gunman on a motorcycle. He stepped out of the car and stopped to speak with an acquaintance he spotted nearby. The motorcyclist manoeuvred the bike close to Mr Baldacchino, dropping the registration plate into a metal grate in the process.

An eyewitness recounted Mr Baldacchino actually alerted his aggressor he had lost his number plate. The motorcyclist nodded and as the victim turned his back to him, he produced a small gun and shot him in the left side of his back.

Mr Baldacchino started screaming in pain and ran to another parking area close by. Using his mobile phone, he immediately called his son as eyewitnesses called the police and tried to administer first aid.

He was rushed to hospital suffering from extensive internal injuries after the bullet hit a vital organ, sources said.