South Korean police under scrutiny over delayed response in fatal family shooting

SEOUL - A fatal shooting in which

a father shot and killed his son

during a family gathering has sparked widespread public criticism over what appears to be a delayed and disorganised police response in a country where gun violence is extremely rare.

The Korean National Police Agency has launched an internal investigation into how officers handled the incident, including their response to multiple emergency calls.

The shooting occurred on July 20 at the victim’s home in Incheon’s Songdo during a birthday party reportedly organised by the victim in honour of his father. Attendees included the victim’s wife, their two children and the children’s tutor, who is a foreign national.

According to local media reports, the suspect told the police he shot his son with a homemade firearm because

he “felt betrayed”

after being cut off financially by the family.

Despite multiple emergency calls from the victim’s wife, who fled with their children into another room after her husband had been shot, police did not enter the home until roughly 70 minutes later.

Adding to the controversy over the police response are allegations that officers, while remaining outside, asked the victim’s wife to convince the gunman to release the wounded victim from the apartment.

The police, however, denied this on July 28, saying: “No such instruction was given directly to the victim’s wife.”

They said the officer managing the situation had told a colleague on the scene to “check if there’s any way to rescue the husband first”.

They emphasised that this direction was intended for officers on site and was not meant to be relayed to the family.

Two key aspects of the police response have come under intense scrutiny.

The first is the timing. The initial emergency call was made at approximately 9.31pm (8.31pm Singapore time). However, officers did not enter the apartment until around 10.40pm, reportedly waiting for a special response unit to arrive.

By the time the officers gained access, the victim was unconscious and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The shooter had already fled the scene.

The second issue concerns the chain of command.

The officer assigned to lead the response effort remained at the station and coordinated operations remotely from the control room. His absence at the scene has raised concerns about a lack of coordination and leadership during a critical window of time. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK