Man suspected of killing teenager in northern Hong Kong suburb on Saturday night has fled to mainland China, say police
- The 27-year-old is believed to have killed victim using knife after altercation with female colleague at hair salon
- Man discarded knife, changed clothes and went to mainland after attack
A 27-year-old man suspected of murdering another man outside a hair salon in northern Hong Kong on Saturday has already fled to mainland China, prompting the city’s police to contact their counterparts across the border to help hunt him down.
According to police, the suspect was a member of staff at the salon in Hung Min Court, Yuen Long. He got into a quarrel with a female colleague after stepping on her feet. The woman then called three male friends to confront the suspect outside the salon.
“The male employee then took out a knife that was about six inches long,” said Yau Nai-keung, assistant district commander of crime in Yuen Long. One of the three men the woman called to help, aged 17, was injured in a subsequent scuffle on Hop Choi Street and died of knife wounds. He was brought to Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long in an unconscious state and was certified dead at 9.59pm.
Earlier reports mistakenly identified the dead man as a salon employee, the salon, called Unité, said in a Facebook post.
After the attack, the suspect went back inside the salon, discarded the knife and changed his clothes before fleeing to the mainland.
The two other men the female employee called to help, both aged 18, were arrested on Saturday night on suspicion of wounding. They were still being held at Yuen Long police station on Sunday.
According to official figures, the number of homicides in Hong Kong last year doubled, to 48, compared with 2017. But the Police Commissioner, Stephen Lo Wai-chung, attributed the increase to a bus crash in Tai Po in February in which 19 passengers died.
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In recent weeks, Hong Kong has been rattled by the government’s now-suspended plan to pass an extradition bill that would have allowed fugitives to be extradited to any places Hong Kong does not have extradition agreements with, including the mainland.
Critics said they had no confidence in the mainland’s rule of law and feared the Chinese government would use the bill to crack down on dissenting voices in the city.
Despite the absence of an extradition treaty, mainland police have in the past sent fugitives who fled across the border after committing crimes in Hong Kong back to the city.
