Armed man assaults busway guard

JAKARTA: A busway security guard had to have five stitches for a gash on his forehead after a passenger beat him with a pistol during a quarrel aboard a bus on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses said that the guard, Hendrik, told the passenger, Mulyono, that he was standing too close to the folding door and therefore should move further inside as it was unsafe to stand there.

Mulyono, at first claimed to be a police officer and insisted on standing behind the door. He later took out a pistol and beat Hendrik across the head.

Hendrik cried for help as Mulyono attempted to flee by getting out at a busway shelter in front of Bank Indonesia on Jl. MH Thamrin. Other busway guards surrounded Mulyono and brought him to a nearby police post.

An investigator at the Menteng Police post said they seized a pistol loaded with six rubber bullets and a gun license. --JP