Society

Ministry launches probe into police shooting

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-16 09:13

The Ministry of Public Security has launched a probe into the case of a policeman who shot two villagers dead in the southwestern province of Guizhou amid growing public discontent about the motive behind the shooting.

"A team sent by the Ministry of Public Security has arrived to investigate the incident," Wu Baocheng, an official with the information department for the city of Anshun in Guizhou, told China Daily on Friday.

On Tuesday, Zhang Lei, a deputy police chief in Pogong town near Anshun, allegedly shot dead two local villagers with his gun.

Family members of the two dead, Guo Yonghua and Guo Yongzhi, who were closely related, rejected an earlier report issued by local government that the policeman was forced to shoot the two.

According to police reports, they assaulted the cop and tried grabbing his gun, even though the officer had at first given warnings with shootings toward the sky.

But family members disputed this.

The two did not use any violence against the policeman, let alone attempt to seize his gun, Yang Bingzhen, wife of Guo Yongzhi, told media on Friday.

In addition, Yang disagreed with the report that her husband and the other man had been scuffling with two other villagers, prompting the arrival of the policeman.

They were only quarrelling, without any physical fighting, she added.

According to a Chinese law on police use of arms, the police are allowed to shoot at suspects if they ignore police warnings, if the suspects try seizing arms, or if the suspects attack a policeman, threatening his life.

Policemen will be punished if they are found firing illegally and causing unnecessary casualties.

Yang is preparing to file a complaint suit against the local government over the damages to the dead men's reputation caused by the report, said Xu Jianguo, a Beijing-based lawyer.

Xu today will meet with Yang and other family members of the Guo's for discussions on the case.

Yang has also decided to suspend a civil compensation agreement reached Wednesday with the local government of the township until she receives an apology from the government regarding the report.

In the agreement, the government will make a one-time payment of 350,000 yuan ($51,300) to Yang as long as she buries her husband's body by the coming Sunday, a photocopy of the deal shows.

Zhang, the policeman, along with a police assistant involved in the case, have been put under surveillance, said Wu, the information official.

"The city will hold a press conference on the case once there is a conclusion drawn by the investigative group," Wu said.

Another police shooting case last February made a splash in China, in which a drunk off-duty policeman in the Yunnan province killed a man with three shots amid a brawl. The policeman received a suspended death sentence last month.