Ballpoint gun shooting an accident: Friends

JAKARTA (JP): After three days of intensive questioning, North Jakarta Police arrested on Saturday three friends of a woman who suffered a serious gun shot wound on Thursday, an officer said.

The three, identified as Yuli, a female discotheque employee, and businessmen Tommy and Erick, are currently charged with giving false information to the police about the shooting of their friend Dewi Yulianti, 24, at Danau Sunter Hotel, North Jakarta.

"The three have given false information concerning the shooting. Why didn't they disclose all the facts at the first opportunity?" asked city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang.

The police, he said, would continue investigating the incident thoroughly despite the three's preliminary confession that the shooting was an accident.

According to a reliable source at the North Jakarta Police, the three -- who initially admitted to knowing nothing about the shooting -- confessed on Saturday that Dewi was shot by accident by Yuli on the balcony of a room on the fifth floor of the hotel.

"Yuli admitted that while Dewi was chatting with Tommy and Erick on the balcony, she saw a metallic ballpoint pen.

She didn't know that it was a gun and pressed a button which caused a bullet to be fired from it," the officer, who asked for anonymity, said on Sunday.

The police source said that panicking after Dewi was shot, the three decided to throw the ballpoint gun into the hotel's park in an attempt to avoid police charges.

Police combed the area recently and found the .22 caliber ballpoint gun, which was later discovered as belonging to Tommy.

Dewi, who was shot in the back, is still being treated at the Griya Medika Hospital, North Jakarta. The bullet has been removed during surgery.

Ballpoint guns have become popular among certain groups of people over the past few months in the capital, where street crimes have shown a rapid increase.

So far, the police have yet to say why the four Jakartans were at the hotel. (emf)