Angry residents burn, stab police officers to death
Angry residents burn, stab police officers to death
BOGOR (JP): Angry residents of Gunung Sindur district here
burned a man alive and stabbed another to death on Monday,
reportedly over the wrongful fatal shooting of a worker.
A source at Bogor Police said that the two men were police
officers, identified as Second Brig. Joko Supriatna and Second
Brig. Agus Budiono, who were in plainclothes when the incident
took place around 3:30 p.m.
Refusing to reveal details of the attack, Bogor Police chief
of detectives Adj. Comr. Santun Marpaung said he was
investigating the case.
"I have received confirmed information that one of them was
burned while the other was stabbed to death. That's all," Santun
told reporters.
"I'll give further details tomorrow (Tuesday)."
The Bogor Police source said that the officers allegedly
conducted a gambling raid in the Prumpung village of Gunung
Sindur, some 15 kilometers away from here, when they suddenly
opened fire.
"At least two shots were fired, and suddenly, a woman named
Siti, 35, was killed. She was wrongfully shot in the head," the
source who requested anonymity, said.
Siti's uncle, Caca Arsyad, 50, told reporters at the Bogor Red
Cross Hospital that like him, Siti worked at a salt-producing
factory, PT Sinar Balok Abadi (SBA).
"I saw her leave the factory at about 3:30 p.m. I was at a
foodstall outside the factory. Suddenly, I heard two gunshots,
and I saw my niece falling," Caca told reporters at the hospital.
"Local residents heard the gunshots, and immediately assumed
that those shooting were thieves. They ran after the two men."
Quoting witnesses, Caca said that at gun point the two police
officers forced an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver to help them
escape.
"They headed towards Cibinong village, but suddenly, the
motorcycle fell over. Probably the driver panicked. And that's
when the incident happened," Caca said.
The officers, he said, took shelter in a local resident's
house, but a large number of people surrounded and stoned the
house, before pulling them out and killing them.
Should this incident prove to be a case of wrongful police
shooting, it will be the second this year.
On Feb. 28, a police officer of the West Jakarta SWAT team
shot to death a man after wrongfully identifying him as a robber.
The last incident in which police officers were burned to
death was in December 1999, when two Gegana bomb squad members
from the National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit were beaten
and set on fire by at least 500 local residents from Karang
Sambung Nagasari village, in Bekasi.
Police said that the two officers were initially involved in a
fight with an ojek driver. The mob attacked the officers in
revenge. (ylt/21)