23 bullets fired at bus could have hit seating area
As many as 23 bullets fired from outside could have entered the part of the bus where 15 Hong Kong hostages were sitting, the inquest into the Manila bloodbath was told.
Ballistics-expert Superintendent Raymond Chan Siu-kei, who examined the bus on August 30, found 62 bullet marks on the exterior. Among these, 35 were fired from outside the bus, including three bullet holes found on the side mirrors, and 10 were fired from the inside.
The origin of the other 17 bullet marks could not be determined, either because the glass was too shattered after being hit by a bullet or the shooting angle was too narrow, Chan said. These marks could have been made from shots fired inside or outside the bus, or from fragments of bullets brushing past the glass.
News footage showing Filipino SWAT officers surrounding the bus was aired earlier in court. The court has also heard that snipers shot the gunman and the bus' wheels.
Among the 35 bullets fired from outside, 17 passed through the window and could have entered the bus. Six more bullets also penetrated the windows, Chan said, but whether those shots came from inside or outside the bus could not be determined. If fired from outside, they too could have entered the bus, he said. Some bullets did not pierce the windows, but made marks on them.
Chan was testifying on the 13th day of Hong Kong's inquest into the deaths of eight Hongkongers held hostage by sacked police officer Rolando Mendoza on August 23.
Mendoza initially held 21 Hongkongers hostage, but he released six of them before the first gunfire was heard after 6pm.
The gunman had an M16 rifle and a pistol engraved 'COLT Government Model', Chan said. The court heard earlier that SWAT members, including sniper Alfredo Terrado, who shot Mendoza in the head, were equipped with M16 rifles.
Most of the bullet marks were found on the windscreen and the right side of the bus near the door. An entire window on that side was gone - broken by police officers to rescue hostages, the court was told.
Chan found two bullet marks on the right front and rear wheel covers. The gunshots appeared to have been fired from outside the bus and from its rear, he said.
'But I have my reservations because the wheel covers can rotate and are movable, and I didn't examine them at the scene,' he said, explaining that the bus had been moved from the site of the hostage drama to a police garage.
Chan sawed off and brought back a piece of glass taken from the lower part of the windscreen near the door. The laminated glass, consisting of a plastic film wedged between two pieces of glass, was not pierced through but it was cracked on both sides of the glass.
The bullet mark came from an unknown direction, Chan said, but added that it might be relevant to one of the hostages.
The court heard earlier that slain tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn, 31, had been shot while standing at the steps near the door and handcuffed to a railing.
Chan identified at least 33 bullet marks on the inside of the bus. He found nine bullet holes and dents from gunshots on a panel under the windscreen, which was next to the stairs at the door. They were fired from outside the bus, he said.
He also found bullet marks on nine seats or headrests and the underside of an overhead luggage rack. A bullet hole in the seat of the 10th row had a corresponding hole in the 11th row. Survivor Chan Kwok-chu, whose hands were shot, testified earlier that he was sitting in the 10th row, next to the emergency exit.
Chan told the court that he had tested Mendoza's guns by firing them and collecting the bullets and cartridges. Rifling marks left on the bullets as they passed through the gun barrel could be used for analysis, Chan said. 'We rely on rifling marks to see if a particular cartridge came from a particular rifle,' he said.
Chan said he fired with Mendoza's guns into a steel tube packed with cotton in order to preserve the marks without shattering the bullets.
The inquest continues today before Coroner Michael Chan Pik-kiu.
