Video | Chinese policeman guns down unarmed traveller in front of his three children and elderly mother
Video casts doubt on official account of killing of a railway traveller in front of his three children
Watch: Latest CCTV footage captures Xu Chunhe's confrontation with police
A shooting in which a police officer killed an unarmed traveller in front of his elderly mother and three small children at a train station, is being investigated by the public security ministry.
Railway police said the officer pulled the trigger after Xu Chunhe, 45, attacked him and tried to seize his gun on May 2.
But a private video clip circulating online shows the policeman using a long stick to beat Xu, who tried to dodge the blows and pull the stick away from the policeman. Local authorities have refused to release the full surveillance footage of the shooting.
The ministry yesterday confirmed a state media report that it had sent a work team to the northeastern town of Qingan to gather evidence and witness accounts, and said it would release results later.
With rising social tensions and an accompanying increase in violent crimes, especially in what the authorities see as terrorist threats from members of the ethnic minority of Uygurs, the mainland began to allow normal patrol officers to carry firearms for the first time last year. However, the move has raised concerns over whether the newly trained patrol officers are responsible enough in the use of the weapon.