Financial troubles suspected in suicide

Financial troubles suspected in suicide

JAKARTA (JP): An owner of public buses killed himself with
a .22 caliber gun on Jl. Kemang Timur, South Jakarta, early on
Tuesday, relatives and employees said, with family financial
problems the suspected cause.

Junaedi, 35, shot himself at his mother's house, his uncle
Yulimar said at the morgue of Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital.

Yulimar said Junaedi owned nine Kopaja minibuses, plying the
Manggarai to Blok M route, with 11 drivers. All the drivers were
in Kemang where the buses were usually stationed when the
incident occurred.

"The men heard a gunshot from the house. They immediately went
inside and found Junaedi lying on the floor with a gunshot wound
to his forehead," Yulimar said.

Junaedi was taken to Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta but
doctors said the bullet exploded upon impact and the wound was
inoperable. He died about two hours later at 2:30 a.m., Yulimar
said.

"When the tragedy happened, his wife and four-year-old son
were in his house in the Pasar Minggu area," Yulimar said, adding
that he personally did not know why Junaedi killed himself.

RSCM's forensic expert Zulhasmar Syamsu said the gunshot wound
appeared to have been self-inflicted because the bullet could not
have been fired from a distance.

Kopaja's secretary Anton confirmed that Junaedi was one of the
owners of buses operated by the organization of bus cooperatives
unit.

A Kopaja official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said
there were rumors Junaedi was experiencing financial problems
which might have caused him to commit suicide.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis told reporters at
his office that the reason for Junaedi's suicide was still
unclear.

"We don't know why he took his own life and where he got the
pen gun," he said, referring to the .22 caliber gun.(06/nvn)