Shenzhen police deny Hong Kong media's 'killing spree' report
Police department says newspaper report on murder of six 'completely untrue'
Shenzhen police on Sunday flatly denied a Hong Kong newspaper’s report that claimed a police officer’s family of six had been slaughtered in a brutal revenge killing spree in Luohu district last week.
“The police department has confirmed it had received no such case. The report is completely untrue,” said an online statement released by Shenzhen district police of Luohu on Saturday evening. “[We] appeal to all citizens to not easily trust any rumours,” it said.
Hong Kong Chinese newspaper Oriental Daily earlier that day cited an anonymous source as saying four knife-wielding criminals stormed into a Shenzhen police officer’s home in a Luohu residential tower on Tuesday. They then brutally stabbed to death the man, his wife, their two daughters and his parents, the newspaper said.
The report claimed the allegedly dead Shenzhen police officer was a member of a border police force that specialises in anti-drug trafficking. He was targeted by smugglers in a possible revenge attack, the newspaper added.
The Luohu authority was quick to disprove the alleged claim. It told Southern Metropolis Daily that the report contained no reliable sources and lacked details like the specific location of the alleged crime, calling it a fake news piece.