Hong Kong man arrested on suspicion of killing elderly neighbour with cleaver in housing block corridor
- Police say the victim was unconscious when found, and died in hospital about 1½ hours later
- Police were initially searching for a woman in her 50s in relation to the case, but ultimately arrested her son
Police have arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of killing his elderly neighbour, who was found bleeding and unconscious in a Hong Kong public housing block and later died in hospital.
Emergency personnel were called to the Heng On Estate in Ma On Shan on Monday after the 84-year-old man, surnamed Wong, was found by another neighbour lying in a 19th-floor public corridor soon after 1pm.
A police source said Wong was returning to his flat on the same floor when he was attacked.
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“The investigation suggested the attacker ran out from one of the flats and then hacked the victim with a meat cleaver in the 19th-floor public corridor,” he said, adding that some neighbours reported hearing the victim yell “why did you hack me?”
When one of the neighbours went out to check on the situation, they found Wong injured and unconscious on the floor.
Wong was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital, where he was certified dead just before 2.30pm.
According to police, bloodstains and a weapon were also found on nearby staircases.
At that point, police classified the case as a murder.
The source said officers were initially searching for a middle-aged woman after being told that she lived in the flat the attacker ran out of.
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He said the woman was later located by police, who determined she was not the attacker.
At about 4pm, however, her son, who was reportedly emotionally unstable, went to Prince of Wales Hospital to seek treatment.
The source said bloodstains were found on his clothes and he was arrested in connection with the murder.
As of 7pm, the suspect was still being held for questioning and had not been charged.
Detectives from the Sha Tin district crime squad are handling the case.
