Detective killed at street kiosk

TANGERANG (JP): First Sgt. Parbukitan Sianipar from the Jakarta Police auto crime investigation unit was shot dead by two unidentified men on a motorcycle in the early hours of Monday.

While his fellow officers were still tracing the two men and looking for clues at the scene of the crime, a small cigarette kiosk on Jl. Raya Serpong, witnesses said the original target of the shooting was not the 31-year-old officer.

Witnesses and locals at the scene recalled that Parbukitan was at the street kiosk owned by Hamdan when the two men arrived.

The time was about 25 minutes after midnight. The kiosk itself was some 300 meters from Parbukitan's house.

"Suddenly, a Yamaha RX King motorcycle carrying two men stopped very close to the kiosk.

The two immediately jumped off the motorcycle with one of them started to wave a handgun, while yelling that they were looking for a man called Okem," a local said.

Witnessing the scene, officer Parbukitan approached the two and asked them to calm down and slowly explain what the problem was.

"Instead of getting a response, the officer was hit on the head with the butt of the handgun by one of the men," another witness said.

Parbukitan then tried to draw his own pistol.

"But before he had the chance to fire his gun, the suspect shot him first, right in the chest," the local said.

It remains unclear whether Parbukitan was wearing his police uniform at the time.

After the shooting, the two unidentified men then sped off on their motorcycle.

Local residents immediately rushed the bleeding Parbukitan to the nearby Islamic Assobirin Hospital. Doctors at the hospital then transferred the victim to the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

However, the victim died on the way due to severe bleeding.

Local police detectives concluded that the two men were looking for Okem, who might have stopped at Hamdan's kiosk after being involved in a dispute with the two. (41/dja)