Police back decision in hoodlum shooting
JAKARTA (JP): Police defended yesterday the fatal shooting of a hoodlum in Tanah Abang last Friday saying that the man, labeled a troublemaker by local vendors, was shot for attacking officers after he killed a vendor.
Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira announced yesterday that police never gun down anyone unless necessary. "This is a police rule that must be respected," Abubakar said.
Abubakar said that his subordinates had to shoot Immanuel Soares because he tried to attack the officers who were taking him to find the weapon he allegedly used to kill the street vendor in Bongkaran, Tanah Abang.
Immanuel was shot twice in the back at around 3:30 a.m. Friday, about two hours after hacking Mawi, a 55-year-old cigarette street vendor, to death for refusing to give him money.
Immanuel was nabbed following tips from his friend, Herman, who was arrested by police earlier.
Police data said that Immanuel, a Timorese, had been jailed for four-and-a-half years for murder and was released in November 1994.
The shooting of Immanuel was a relief to the Tanah Abang street vendors, who said they have long been the target of extortion by thugs.
More than 50 vendors operating in the Bongkaran slum area went to the Central Jakarta Police precinct yesterday to praise the police for their prompt action in handling the hoodlums.
"We're very happy to know Immanuel was shot to death," one of the traders exulted yesterday.
The vendors, including women, also visited the Jakarta Police headquarters. They said Immanuel was a cold-blooded hoodlum, who had frequently been violent towards them.
"If we fail to give the hoodlums money, they will hurt us or take away, destroy and even burn our property," said an elderly vendor.
The vendors said that they had reported the case to both the military and the nearby police station but only this time did the police take measures.
According to the vendors, Immanuel and dozens of his group members went to the Tanah Abang area everyday to ask vendors, shop owners and drivers of public vehicles for between Rp 5,000 to Rp 15,000 in "security guarantees."
"We also want the police to arrest his other 50 friends, and their boss," said another street vendor.
Procedures
Meanwhile, a number of people who claimed to be friends of Immanuel went to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta, where Immanuel's body was being kept.
Some of them said they wanted to take the body to the Central Jakarta police precinct to protest the shooting, in which they claim proper police procedures were not followed.
Some 50 police and military officers, equipped with rattan sticks and shields, guarded the hospital's morgue since 11 a.m..
Some East Timorese loiters who were sitting on a bench at the morgue kept quiet when questioned. One of them just said, "I don't know. I don't know."
Immanuel was known to be a member of a prointegration youth organization.
Duarte Freitas, a staff member of the organization, distributed leaflets at the House of Representatives which stated that all newspapers reports on Immanuel were incorrect. (bsr/jun/sur)