An elderly, homeless hawker who was taking an afternoon nap beside his stall found himself in the firing line during Tuesday's shooting of two police officers in Mongkok.
On waking, he saw Constable Sze Kwan-ming bleeding just a metre away from him.
Staff at a car showroom, which was later turned into the police command centre, said the elderly man was shaking and had to be calmed by police.
But talking to the South China Morning Post yesterday, the man put on a brave face as he described his encounter, saying that he had not been frightened.
'Only God can decide when you will die. What have I got to be scared about?' he said.
The man, in his 70s, said he had been selling stationery on the pavement for a few dollars for more than eight years and slept rough by his stall every day.