Wuhan Uni raider shot dead

• Source: The Global Times
• [03:39 June 04 2009]
• Comments

By Wang Anna

Police carry the gunman’s body from the main office building at Wuhan University yesterday. Photo: Li Ziyun

A gunman who took a woman hostage at Wuhan University, Hubei Province, yesterday morning was shot dead by police after six hours of failed negotiations, the university said on its website.

The man, surnamed Zhou, entered the university’s main administration building at about 9 am. He then went into the office of the Party committee and took a woman hostage, it said.

He cocked the gun and began yelling abuse at the staff.

Alerted to the incident, university security personnel rushed to the scene and called the police. They also evacuated everyone from the administration building.

Officers from the Wuhan police bureau and special police arrived at the scene at about 9:20 am. Negotiators then approached the office and began talking with Zhou.

“The gunman made no clear demands,” the Xinhua News Agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.

After the negotiations failed to make progress, a rescue operation was launched. This involved an armed policeman disguised as a canteen worker who took a meal to Zhou, the report said.

However, as he approached, Zhou opened fire and shot in the officer in the head. Police immediately returned fire, killing the gunman, it said.

The police officer was rushed to hospital where he is being treated for a serious head wound, but the hostage escaped unharmed.

Zhou was later identified as a former telephone line operator with the university’s logistics department, the website notice said.

He had also been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for illegally confining others, but had been granted a three-year reprieve and was under police supervision. It did not say when he had been sentenced.

Faculty, staff and students at the campus are trying to get their lives back to normal, the notice said.

According to a report by China Foto Press, Zhou was the son of a professor at the university and was carrying a 7.62 mm handgun.

The Global Times’ calls to the university yesterday went unanswered.