Woman killed in Hong Kong's Quarry Bay Park shooting, female relative detained

Police officers escort the suspect of a shooting from a shopping arcade at Taikoo Shing in Hong Kong on June 26, 2018. PHOTO: AFP
Rescuers being on standby after a woman opened fire and wounded four people at a park outside Taikoo Shing in Hong Kong on June 26, 2018. PHOTO: REUTERS

HONG KONG - A family dispute in Hong Kong turned fatal on Tuesday (Jun 26) when a woman allegedly fired a gun at her relatives, killing her 80-year-old aunt who took a bullet in the head.

The shooting at the Quarry Bay Park also injured the dead victim's three siblings, two men and one woman aged 60 to 72. Among them, a 63-year-old man was in critical condition after he was shot in the lung, head and arm.

His surviving siblings both sustained gunshot wounds in the arm, Apple Daily reported.

Police were alerted to the attack at around 3pm and scores of officers with guns and bullet-proof vests descended on the area.

They detained a female suspect, 44, at the nearby Cityplaza shopping mall.

"We believe the lady to be the assailant and we recovered a firearm from her possession," Chief Inspector Hui Hong Kit told the press.

Mr Hui said the preliminary investigation suggests the attack at the harbourfront park to the east of the Central district on Hong Kong Island was motivated by a "family conflict" and was not linked to organised crime.

Police officers search for clues to a shooting that took place in Quarry Bay Park in Hong Kong on June 26, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

The wounded are brothers and sisters, he added, while the alleged shooter - who used a semi-automatic pistol - is their niece.

Local TV footage showed an injured man sitting on the ground with a bloodied arm while another was carried into an ambulance.

Heavily armed police officers were seen apprehending the suspect who was clad in jeans and polo shirt, pinning her to the floor in the building as the alleged weapon lay near her, Apple Daily reported.

Police officers display a seized handgun and its magazine as evidence after a woman shot and wounded four people at a park in Taikoo Shing in Hong Kong on June 26, 2018. PHOTO: AFP

Hong Kong Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, said the former British colony was safe with a crime rate of 758 cases per 100,000 people in 2017.

"Cases involving firearm and assault are very, very rare, so we are paying great attention to this case involving a firearm hurting other citizens," she told reporters.

Shootings and gun-related incidents are unusual in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory with a relatively low level of street crime.

Under Hong Kong law, no one is allowed to possess any arms or ammunition unless they hold a permit for possession or a dealer's licence.

A drunk man snatched a gun from a policeman in March this year, shooting and injuring two officers, South China Morning Post reported.

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