Days after the Northern Marianas police chief vowed to stop burglaries in the islands, his cousin has been shot dead in a burglary in a poker parlour.
James Patrick Deleon Guerrero, a security guard, and cousin of the chief of police, James C Deleon Guerrero, was shot in the back and was found dead inside the restroom of the poker arcade, where he had tried to hide from the armed suspect.
The male suspect was wearing a black mask and was in military fatigues and gloves.
It's not the only homicide case police on Saipan are probing as Ana Marie Limes, a former staff assistant of Delegate Gregorio Sablan, was found dead inside her house on Monday.
No one has yet been arrested in either case, but police say they do have a person of interest in Ms Limes' murder.