Suspected car thief shot dead by police

BANDUNG (JP): A car theft suspect was shot dead by police for allegedly trying to escape arrest and attack police officers near his house on Jl. Wartawan here late Monday.

West Java Police detectives chief Sr. Comr. Sardjono said police had to shoot the suspect, Rudy Singgih, 38, because the latter had put the lives of officers in danger.

"He (Rudy) stabbed one of our officers on the way to the police station. The officer is seriously injured," Sardjono said.

Rudy, one of the founders of Pilar magazine who once worked for Tempo weekly from 1987 to 1994 as photo editor, had long been sought by the police, Sardjono said.

He was shot in his right foot and chest.

Sardjono did not say where the stabbing and shooting took place, but Rudy's wife, Keni Kaniawati, 29, said her husband was shot only 100 meters away from their house, after Rudy had already surrendered to the police.

Keni said on Tuesday that she planned to lodge a complaint to the police over the shooting.

The officers came to the house at around 10:30 p.m. They knocked on the front door initially, but then broke the windows as the door was not opened immediately, Keni said.

She said that her husband initially tried to escape the arrest by jumping over the wall at the back when police knocked on the door.

However, she told her husband not to escape after police fired at least five warning shots. However, after the police and her husband had left, Keni heard a gunshot and her husband's cries.

"If my husband was wrong, then they should punish him. But, he had surrendered to police so why did they shoot him?" said Keni, who was accompanied by her lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat. (25/emf)