Hong Kong man dies after being shot by police called to handle domestic dispute
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong man has been shot dead by police after wielding a knife and a pair of scissors at an officer despite multiple warnings, the force has said.
Police arrived at a residential unit on Kam Ping Street, North Point, on Sunday night after receiving a report from a woman that her husband was assaulting her and her mother-in-law, at about 9.19 pm, according to a press release on Monday morning.
The man, 38, was found to be holding a 30-centimetre long knife and a pair of scissors at the scene, the force said.
The residential unit was a rooftop flat, police superintendent Sin Kwok-ming told reporters at a press briefing in the early hours on Monday. The wife, 41, and two other people who rented the flat had locked themselves in their rooms while the mother-in-law, 68, had left the premises while waiting for police, Sin said.
Shield-holding officers of the force’s Emergency Unit confronted the man and repeatedly warned him to disarm, but the man attempted to attack officers with his sharps, Sin said.
A male officer fired a shot at the man’s chest after he failed to heed police warnings, Sin added.
The man was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital, Wan Chai, where he was pronounced dead at 10.39 pm, the force said.
Asked if firing a shot was an appropriate reaction, Sin said: “The deceased had weapons in both of his hands and was charging toward our officers. To protect the lives of everybody at the scene, we had no other choice.”
The superintendent also said his colleague had been “professional,” adding officers were trained to hit the “centre mass” of the body when firing a shot.
Local media reported that the officer who fired the shot had eight years of experience with the force. He fired from a distance of approximately 1.5 metres.
Sin also said the man had a long-term record of mental illness and had been followed by social workers, adding that he had reportedly shown signs of a relapse lately.
The man was hitting his 68-year-old mother right before the incident, causing injuries to her head and a fractured bone in her left hand, Sin said.
The wife and mother-in-law were sent to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Chai Wan, in conscious state, the force said.
The Regional Crime Unit of Hong Kong Island had begun investigations and urged residents to provide information, it added.
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