How a failed police raid triggered ‘the most violent gunbattle between police and criminals’ in Hong Kong’s history
- A bust on a flat in Tai Kok Tsui ‘went badly wrong’ when armed men started firing on officers before fleeing in a hijacked minibus, in 1992
- Two officers and a bystander were shot and four grenades were thrown in the ‘rampage’
“Twelve bystanders and five policemen were injured yesterday in what is believed to be the most violent gunbattle between police and criminals in Hongkong’s history,” reported the South China Morning Post on April 25, 1992.
“The rampage began when a police raid on a flat in Tai Kok Tsui went badly wrong,” the story continued. “Police were expecting to find car thieves in the flat but instead stumbled on armed men believed to have been involved in [a] $700,000 robbery at a Chow Sang Sang jewellery shop [on April 23].
“The gunmen grabbed 25-year-old Inspector Chan [Sze-kei] and used him as a human shield, forcing him ahead of them down the building’s staircase. Inspector Chan was shot in the head during a scuffle at the bottom of the stairs, and took the main impact of the first Chinese-made hand grenade exploded by the suspects.
“Superintendent Trevor Oakes, who led the raid, was shot in the shoulder.”
The suspects hijacked a minibus and a taxi and “fired several shots and tossed another grenade”, before fleeing to Sham Shui Po. Chinese medicine shop owner Cheng Chun-fai was shot in the chest.
“Meanwhile, in Shamshuipo, the suspects continued their rampage,” throwing two more grenades then escaping.