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SCMP

This article was first published on March 18, 2006
by Benjamin Wong and Clifford Lo
Officers shot with stolen police gun
An off-duty police­man shot two uni­formed con­stables, killing one of them, with a gun stolen from and used to kill an officer five years ago, police sources said yes­ter­day (March 17, 2006).
The off-duty con­stable, Tsui Po-ko, 35, was also killed in the shootout in Tsim Sha Tsui in the early hours of yes­ter­day.
Police sources said evid­ence at the scene sug­ges­ted that Tsui fired the first shots using the ser­vice revolver taken from con­stable Leung Shing-yan, who was murdered in 2001 after he answered a bogus noise com­plaint in Tsuen Wan.
The gun was found in the blood-spattered under­pass where Tsui died along with Con­stable Tsang Kwok-hang, 33. Tsang’s part­ner, Sin Ka-keung, 28, remained in a ser­i­ous con­di­tion in the intens­ive-care unit of Queen Eliza­beth Hos­pital last night.
Invest­ig­at­ors were hav­ing dif­fi­culty piecing together exactly what happened, because Con­stable Sin, the only wit­ness, had not been able to talk to them.
But the gun­fight is believed to have broken out after the con­stables, attached to Patrol Sub-Unit One of Tsim Sha Tsui police sta­tion, tried to stop Tsui for a search.
Police Com­mis­sioner Dick Lee Ming-kwai said pre­lim­in­ary invest­ig­a­tions indic­ated that 10 shots were fired.
A police source said seven were fired by the two patrol con­stables and another three from Tsui’s gun.
“We all com­men­ded the will­power of the two officers who man­aged to return fire and gun down the sus­pect before they col­lapsed,” the source said.
It is under­stood that the injured Con­stable Sin pressed the emer­gency but­ton on his walk­i­etalkie to alert police to a shoot­ing case before he fell.

He was found lying semi-con­scious next to Tsui, while Tsang was just a few steps away, one invest­ig­ator said. The three revolvers were on the floor beside them and blood was sprayed on the walls, floor and stair­case of the sub­way, near the junc­tion of Can­ton and Aus­tin roads.
The men were taken to Queen Eliza­beth Hos­pital, where doc­tors declared Tsang and Tsui dead.
Checks by the Forensic Fire­arms Exam­in­a­tion Bur­eau revealed that the hand­gun car­ried by Tsui was the police revolver stolen from Leung in 2001, another source said, adding the serial num­ber had been removed.
Organ­ised Crime and Triad Bur­eau detect­ives yes­ter­day approached officers who worked with Tsui for inform­a­tion about his daily life and were under­stood to be track­ing his tele­phone records to see whom he had been in con­tact with recently.
Last night, detect­ives were also try­ing to estab­lish whether oth­ers may have been involved in the incid­ent and were try­ing to track down a grey motor­cycle, whose owner lives in Yu Tung Court, Tung Chung, where Tsui also lived. Tsui was attached to the police post at Dis­ney­land.
After the gun­fight, the scene – about 300 metres from the Tsim Sha Tsui police sta­tion – was cor­doned off as forensic experts combed the area for evid­ence.
Con­stable Tsang, who joined the force more than 10 years ago, was trans­ferred to the patrol sub­unit of Tsim Tsui Sha police sta­tion about two weeks ago.
At about 1.30pm, dis­traught rel­at­ives, includ­ing his wife and mother, burned ritual paper offer­ings and joss-sticks near the entrance of the sub­way out­side Vic­toria Towers, where Tsang died.
“I miss you, Kwok-hang,” his sob­bing mother screamed.

Chief Exec­ut­ive Don­ald Tsang Yam-kuen, who vis­ited Con­stable Sin yes­ter­day, said he hoped the full details of the shoot­ing would be estab­lished soon. “We hope the fam­il­ies of the police officers will stay strong,” he said.
The police com­mis­sioner described the incid­ent as a “heavy blow” to the police. He said police wel­fare officers would do their best to help the fam­il­ies.
Ever since it was used to kill a young con­stable five years ago, the .38 cal­ibre revolver recovered early yes­ter­day has been haunt­ing the police.
The gun was stolen from Leung Shing-yan after he went to invest­ig­ate a bogus noise com­plaint in March 2001, and used to kill him.
Then, like a phantom, it dis­ap­peared without a trace. In the years to fol­low, police invest­ig­at­ing crimes where a sim­ilar gun was used wondered if the revolver had reappeared. But each time they hit a dead end.
Whether the gun’s recov­ery means police can close the book on Leung’s cold-blooded slay­ing remains unknown, but find­ing his sidearm – albeit in tra­gic cir­cum­stances – will be met with relief by the law enforce­ment com­munity.
The gun and sev­eral rounds of ammuni­tion dis­ap­peared on March 14, 2001, after Leung, a prom­ising officer with five years’ exper­i­ence, answered a noise com­plaint about a fifth-floor flat at Shek To House, Shek Wai Kok Estate, in Tsuen Wan.
Accord­ing to invest­ig­at­ors, upon reach­ing the flat, Leung struggled with an unknown assail­ant who seized his revolver then shot the 23-year-old five times, once in the back of the head.
Des­pite an intens­ive search and a $1 mil­lion reward for inform­a­tion lead­ing to the pro­sec­u­tion of Leung’s killer, both the mur­derer and the gun evaded police.
That is not to say the gun remained out of sight. It was sus­pec­ted to have been used in at least one more murder in the five years since its theft.

Secur­ity guard Zafar Iqbal Khan, 31, who was armed with a pump-action Rem­ing­ton shot­gun, was shot in the head, body and wrist by a lone gun­man dur­ing a rob­bery at a Hang Seng Bank branch in the Belvedere Garden shop­ping arcade, Castle Peak Road, on Decem­ber 5, 2001.
It was widely rumoured, but never con­firmed, that the weapon used in that deadly $500,000 rob­bery was Leung’s, but a $2 mil­lion reward failed to turn up suc­cess­ful leads.
Then, in Octo­ber 2004, a revolver sim­ilar to Leung’s was used to fire at police chas­ing a trio of armed rob­bers who had stolen $690,000 from two secur­ity guards. Again, it was never con­firmed if that weapon was Leung’s.
Leung’s weapon is not the only police-issued hand­gun lost over the years, but it was stolen by a crim­inal evil enough to shoot a young officer in the back of the head, so the gun was the one that con­cerned the author­it­ies and front­line officers most.
The revolver’s recov­ery will be wel­comed. That it came at the cost of two – nearly three – more lives will not.


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Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong subway shootout in 2006 leaves 2 policemen dead – SCMP archive

The shootout happened at the junction of Canton Road and Austin Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Handout

A clipping from the frontpage of SCMP’s March 18, 2006 issue. Photo: SCMP

A file picture of Police Constable Tsui Po-ko who was later discovered to have also been behind the murder of another policeman five years earlier. Photo: Handout

The wife of Police Constable Tsang Kwok-hang (middle) burning joss-sticks and paper offerings at a road rite. Photo: Robert Ng

Japan hit by worst earthquake and tsunami in its history in 2011 – from the SCMP archive

Tsunami waves hit residences after a powerful earthquake in Natori, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, on March 11, 2011. Photo: AP Photo

A whirlpool is seen near Oarai City, Ibaraki Prefecture, in Japan, on March 11, 2011. Photo: Reuters

Houses swept out to sea burn following a tsunami and earthquake in Natori City in Fukushima prefecture, on March 11, 2011. Photo: Reuters

A woman holds her granddaughter at a shelter at Natori city in Fukushima prefecture on March 12, 2011. Photo: AFP Photo

Parts of a beer factory facilities are collapsed as the employees gather on the rooftops after a powerful earthquake in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, on March 11, 2011. Photo: AP Photo

Woman charged with attempted murder in shooting at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home

Global megastar Rihanna. Photo: AFP

Rihanna’s home in Los Angeles. Photo: ABC7 Los Angeles via AP

Bullet holes on a wall at singer Rihanna’s home. Photo: ABC7 Los Angeles via AP

Ang Lee becomes first Chinese person to win best director Oscar in 2006 – SCMP archive

Ang Lee holds his Oscar for achievement in directing. He is the first Asian winner of the award. Photo: EPA

People watch on a large TV screen outside Hong Kong’s Times Square on March 6, 2006, as director Ang Lee accepts the Oscar for best director. Photo: SCMP

Ang Lee, left, working with actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Brokeback Mountain. Photo: AP

Caption: Ang Lee’s brother and mother celebrate his latest triumph. Photo: AP

News

Hong Kong

20 years ago, an off-duty policeman who turned out to be one of Hong Kong’s most notorious serial killers shot two constables in a Tsim Sha Tsui subway


20 years ago, an off-duty policeman who turned out to be one of Hong Kong’s most notorious serial killers shot two constables in a Tsim Sha Tsui subway.


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}20 years ago, an off-duty policeman who turned out to be one of Hong Kong’s most notorious serial killers shot two constables in a Tsim Sha Tsui subway

Officers shot with stolen police gun

20 years ago, an off-duty policeman who turned out to be one of Hong Kong’s most notorious serial killers shot two constables in a Tsim Sha Tsui subway