Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

World

China investigating shooting death of unarmed traveler by police officer at train station

Associated Press
Published | Updated
9802d5b9-

FILE - In this April 25, 2014 file photo, a police training officer, right, guides a trainee during a weapons training session for police officers in Haikou, in southern China's Hainan province. Newly granted power for normal Chinese police officers to carry a firearm, has raised calls for a full independent investigation, after a police officer killed an unarmed traveler in front of his elderly mother and three small children at a train station, the Public Security Ministry said Tuesday May 12, 2015, after several shootings by police were never fully accounted for, according to Zhao Chu, a Shanghai-based independent commentator. (Chinatopix via AP, File) CHINA OUT (The Associated Press)

BEIJING – China's Public Security Ministry is investigating a shooting in which a police officer killed an unarmed traveler in front of his elderly mother and three small children at a train station, the ministry said Tuesday.

Local railway police said the officer pulled the trigger after Xu Chunhe, 45, attacked the policeman and tried to seize his gun on May 2.

But a clip of private video circulating online shows the policeman using a long stick to beat Xu, who tried to dodge the blows and then tried to pull the stick away from the policeman. Local authorities have refused to release the full surveillance footage of the shooting.

The ministry confirmed a state media report that it had dispatched a work team to the northeastern town of Qing'an to gather evidence and witness accounts, and said it would release results later.

With rising social tensions and an accompanying increase in violent crimes, especially what the authorities see as terrorist threats from members of the ethnic minority of Uighurs, China began to allow normal patrol officers to carry firearms for the first time last year. However, the move also has raised concerns over whether the newly trained patrol officers are responsible enough in the use of the deadly weapon.

Members of the Chinese public have questioned whether policeman Li Lebin was justified in shooting Xu in the chest.

Xie Yanyi, a lawyer for Xu's family, said he believes the policeman had no need to restrain Xu and that the officer should be investigated on charges of murder.

The police statement said the policeman intervened when Xu barred other travelers from checking into the station and that Xu was rude to the police officer.

"He boxed at the police officer, knocking off his cap," police supervisor Zhao Dongbin told local media. "He said he would try to grab the gun ... and it would have been unimaginable if he had seized the gun."

But Xu's cousin, Xu Chunli, told local media that the officer hit Xu so hard with the baton that Xu had blood on his head and face. Once Xu grabbed the baton, the officer pulled the gun, the cousin said.

The cousin said Xu grew upset when he and his family were barred from boarding the train.

Impoverished and ill, Xu was trying to travel to Beijing to seek government assistance for his elderly mother and three children, which would have drawn unwelcome scrutiny on the local government.