A Guangzhou man armed with home-made shotguns and explosives was shot dead by police last night after a stand-off lasting more than 10 hours in a residential complex over an apparent eviction.
One policeman was wounded during the stand-off in a six-storey building in Baiyun district's Yinxing Road. The Southern Metropolis News reported the policeman, the deputy chief of Jingxi police station, had been shot in the abdomen.
The gunman, identified by his landlord as a middle-aged man named Chen Guosheng, had been living with his wife for more than a year in the complex where the drama took place.
The incident was the latest in a recent spate of violence on the mainland, which has sparked concern about public frustration over social injustice that continues to boil. But it was a rare case where guns were involved. In most of the recent attacks at schools, knives were used.
Nearby residents told the Southern Metropolis News that Chen came from Henan and had a military background. A neighbour, who said he often yelled or sang loudly during the evening, suspected him of being mentally ill.
The landlord said he had visited Chen's apartment on Saturday with security guards and gave him until yesterday to move out.
The newspaper reported that a security guard, accompanied by a police officer, had arrived at the apartment to evict Chen, who resisted vigorously. It quoted an eyewitness as saying he had seen a man on the fourth floor of the apartment building, holding home-made rifles.