South China police are investigating how an officer shot and
killed a neurosurgeon in an early morning confrontation in the city
of Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Physician Yin Fangming, 43, who was described by colleagues at
the city's Zhujiang Hospital as "good-natured", was shot once
through the heart.
The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau on Wednesday
promised a "serious and fair" inquiry into the shooting.
A bureau spokesman said the shooting occurred near the hospital
in the Haizhu District at 4:55 AM, when a police officer from the
bureau's Haizhu branch stopped to speak to the driver of a car that
appeared suspicious because the license plates at front and rear
were covered with newspaper.
But the driver refused to answer the officer's questions and
forcibly grabbed the officer's police identification card, said the
spokesman.
The driver allegedly put his car into reverse in an apparent
attempt to hit the officer, and injured the officer's legs, the
spokesman said.
The officer grabbed a door handle to stop the car, and he was
dragged along the road for several meters, the spokesman said.
"The police officer was forced to fire his pistol, and the
driver was shot and injured," he said.
The officer immediately called the emergency medical services
and the driver was taken to Zhujiang Hospital, but he died after
emergency treatment, the spokesman said.
The driver's car was not legally registered as required, and the
license plate number was a military car number that had become
invalid, the police spokesman said.
Police also found another two license plates, with registrations
in Guangdong and Hunan provinces, in the trunk, he said.
"We have set up a joint investigation team involving local
political and legislative committee, the procuratorate and the
public security bureau. The police officer is helping the team with
its investigation," he said.
"The team will carry out a serious and fair investigation," he
added.
But the spokesman would not disclose the police officer's name
or more details.
Yin Fangming was an associate professor and specialist in
craniocerebral microsurgical anatomy, micro-neurosurgery, and
interventional therapy of cerebrovascular diseases, according to
the hospital website.
He had published more than 40 medical papers and participated in
five key medical programs listed by Guangdong Province, state and
military authorities. He had won prizes offered by the Guangdong
Province for his outstanding achievements.
"I feel very sad that I suddenly lost such a nice colleague. He
was good natured and never argued with others," Wang Qinghua, an
associate professor of the Neurosurgery Department of Zhujiang
Hospital, told Xinhua.
Yin had worked at the Neurosurgery Department since 2003, Wang
said.
Local media reports said that Yin had had a brief quarrel with
the police officer before being shot and he was shot in the heart
and liver. He was taken to the hospital at 5:15 a.m.
Reports also said that Yin had been accompanied by a classmate
who had returned from Germany and they had been drinking wine
before the incident.
But the classmate, whose name and address were not disclosed,
could not be reached for comment.
Wang said Yin's classmate, Wang Yanming, had been at the
police's Haizhu branch since the incident, but he could not be
visited without permission nor could he be reached because his
mobile phone had been turned off.
"The police have not yet come to our department to question us,
" Wang Qinghua said.
Staff at the Zhujiang Hospital information office declined to
comment on the incident or on Yin.
Zhujiang Hospital, formally a military hospital, is affiliated
to the Southern Medical University, the former First Military
Medical University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army
(PLA).
A police officer at the Haizhu branch told Xinhua on the phone
that the case was being investigated by the municipal public
security bureau and he could not provide further details.
A spokeswoman of the information office of the municipal public
security bureau said on the phone: "We have notified the media
about the latest development of the case and, sorry, I'm not
allowed to give you more information because the investigation is
not over yet."
The spokeswoman declined to be identified.
(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2007)