Random shooting leaves grieving mother shocked

Random shooting leaves grieving mother shocked

JAKARTA (JP): Yoto Suwarno, a resident of Tawangsari district,
Sukohardjo regency in Central Java received a heavy blow on
Monday night on news that her son was in a critical condition due
to a random shooting incident.

"Warini, my daughter-in-law who stays with me, came to me
crying. Warini said that her husband ... my son Widodo, had been
shot on Sunday evening and that he was in a serious condition in
a hospital in Jakarta," she told reporters at the intensive care
unit of the Mediros hospital in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta,
while holding the hand of her bedridden son.

"I asked her why? She said she didn't know. She also told me
that my son was not the one at fault and that he had done nothing
wrong."

"I asked her if he had not done anything, how come he was
shot? He must have done something. Warini could not answer me."

The elderly woman, who can barely speak Bahasa Indonesia, was
forced to borrow money from neighbors and had to leave her
grandson with relatives and take the five-months pregnant Warini
with her on buses until she reached Jakarta to see her son.

"I had not been there five minutes when Sri Mulyadi (Warini's
brother-in-law who stays with Widodo in Jakarta) told me that the
medicines were costing nearly Rp 500,000 (US$71.40) a day, and
that an operation on my son had cost Rp 15 million," the soft-
spoken lady said.

A doctor at the hospital, Jenadi, later told reporters that a
bullet had exited Widodo's stomach on the left side, through an
ulcer, the small and large intestines and the urinary duct. The
bullet left a hole in the right side of Widodo's back.

Yoto said that her son had been a newspaper seller for 12
years.

"He's just an ordinary newspaper seller who sends me less than
Rp 100,000 per month?, to feed myself, his wife and son. How can
I afford all this?" she asked, referring to the medical costs.

"I don't know who shot my son ... Why was he shot?"

Widodo was outside the Seratus Satu Malam restaurant on Sunday
night when I Gusti Ketut Putra, an adjutant of national military
police chief Maj. Gen. Djasrie Marin, came rushing out with a
traffic police officer, First Sgt. Fikri Zakaria, 25.

The soldier and police officer fought as Widodo stood nearby.
Before Widodo knew it, bullets were flying everywhere.

Hospital bills

Fikri died from three bullets wounds to his chest and stomach.
Widodo, and another bystander, Arief, were seriously injured by
bullets during the incident.

Ketut was arrested and detained at the Jakarta Military
Garrison following the incident, while seven police officers
directly involved in the case have been handed over by the
Jakarta Police to the Jakarta military police headquarters for
questioning.

Sri Mulyadi told reporters that his friend Marzuki had visited
the military police to meet with Djasrie over the matter.

"He was told that Djasrie had gone on a Umroh (minor haj
pilgrimage)," Sri said.

Head of Jakarta Military Garrison Brig. Gen. Tubagus
Hasanuddin, who visited Widodo on Wednesday, said that the
garrison would demand that all the commanders of the concerned
parties involved in the shooting pay for Widodo's hospital bills.

"This shooting was carried out by a crazy man. A very stupid
soldier. Whatever the reason, this should not have happened,"
Tubagus told reporters at the hospital.

A source at North Jakarta Police Headquarters said Fikri
apprehended Ketut, his friend Billy and Anisah, while the latter
were in possession of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) at a
house in the Pulomas housing complex on New Year's Eve.

Fikri tried to blackmail Billy, Anisah and Ketut. Ketut
confronted Fikri in the Seribu Satu Malam restaurant on Jl.
Boulevard, on Sunday evening, leading to a heated verbal
exchange.

Ketut then dragged Fikri outside, where Fikri was shot three
times.

Tubagus told reporters that the friendship between Billy and
Ketut went back to when Ketut had just been appointed as an
adjutant of Djasrie.

"They knew each other from 1996. I am still trying to find out
whether Ketut was really a backer of Billy ... and whether Billy
really is a drug dealer or just a user," Tubagus said.

Tubagus said that from what he knew, when the drug bust was
made, Ketut was in the toilet. Traffic police officer Fikri, who
during the bust claimed to be Second Lt. Iwan Syah, took Billy
and Anisah aside, to blackmail them, Tubagus said.

"Ketut was told not to interfere by Fikri, who then called
himself Iwan Syah," Tubagus said. Ketut then went to look for
"Iwan at the Jakarta Police".

"There was no Iwan. Ketut wasted no time tracking down Fikri
in the restaurant, then the fight began and Ketut shot him."

"We are also investigating how many drug users or dealers this
traffic police officer has made money from." (ylt)