Scot shot in chest hours before Philippines wedding

A Scottish man has been shot during a robbery hours before he was due to get married in the Philippines.

Tarek Naggar, 44, was outside a shop in Cebu City when three men demanded he hand over his wallet.

When he refused to give it up, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest.

Mr Naggar, who is from Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, has undergone surgery and remains seriously ill in hospital.

The joiner, who recently had been working in Sweden, was due to get married this weekend to his fiancée Angie, who is from the Philippines.

He was standing outside a convenience store in her home city of Cebu in the early hours of Thursday when a motor scooter with three men clinging to it pulled up.

His best man Chris McLaughlin, who had flown out bringing his friend a kilt for the wedding, was a short distance away when the attack happened.

Mr McLaughlin, 40, from Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, said: “I heard a commotion and ran over to see what was happening. A guy pulled a gun out and shot Tarek in the chest. Then he pointed the gun at myself.”

He said an ambulance was called but failed to show up and they had to travel to hospital in a rickshaw.

Ricocheted bullet

“Tarek’s fiancee was trying to call taxis but there was none stopping. I was on the floor with Tarek. He was conscious. After about 10 minutes or so a guy stopped in a rickshaw,” he told BBC Scotland.

Mr Naggar was treated at a nearby emergency room, then transferred to a larger hospital for surgery.

“The surgeon said the bullet went in the right side but ricocheted and travelled over to the left lung. Miraculously it didn’t go through his heart, it actually went behind his heart.

“He seems to be recovering well. He’s conscious and awake – and has been talking the last couple of days. He’s out of the ICU and has been moved to a recovery room.”

He said he did not believe Mr Naggar had any health insurance, and the family have already had to make payments for his treatment.

Another friend has begun a crowdfunding appeal to raise money for his medical costs.