Society
Task force for shooting investigation in Guangzhou
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-03 08:12
GUANGZHOU: Police in this Guangdong provincial capital have established a special task force to investigate a street shooting that left nine residents wounded on Tuesday night.
Two of the wounded residents were still in a hospital's intensive care unit yesterday evening. Both suffered injuries to internal organs.
Police are urging witnesses to come forward with any information about a male suspect driving a silver-colored van who escaped after opening fire.
"We have zero tolerance for such street violence taking place in the southern metropolis," said a police officer from the Guangzhou bureau of public security yesterday.
Police have promised to bring the suspect to justice, said a police officer who did not want to be named.
The incident began when four male suspects smashed a store selling bottled water in Hongxing village in Shijing township in the city's Baiyun district at about 9 pm.
The suspects brandishing knives injured a staffer from the store and quickly left the scene by car before police arrived.
The car's license plate was covered by a black cloth.
But a van also arrived at the same scene just a minute after police officers left.
A man who wore a peaked cap suddenly stuck his head out of the van window and shot onlookers with a 40-cm-long shotgun.
"Many pedestrians were scared to let out screams and ran away in all directions," Liang said.
A woman victim surnamed Zhang said the incident happened very quickly and many people did not have time to respond.
Zhang was hit by bullets in her right leg and suffered from bleeding.
The wounded, including a 70-year-old woman, were immediately sent to nearby hospitals. Most of them do not have life-threatening injuries.
Local villagers said the case might have involved local organized crime gangs.
The store was smashed after the boss offended the criminal gangs that have monopolized the area's bottled water business, villagers said.
Located in the zone joining town and country, Guangzhou's Baiyun district usually has a high crime rate.
Street robberies, burglaries and fights with improvised weapons have frequently been reported in the district in the past years.
The shooting has raised much concern from both police officers and residents.
