Two women injured in mysterious shootings

JAKARTA (JP): Police are scrambling to determine the culprits and allay public fear over two mysterious shooting incidents which occurred at the same time on Thursday morning.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang identified the two women injured as Dewi Yulianti, 24, who was shot as she talked with friends at a hotel in Sunter, North Jakarta, and Nyimas Lesmana, 29, wounded on a busy street off Jl. Raya Ciracas in East Jakarta.

Surgery is planned for Dewi at Griya Medika Hospital in Sunter to remove a bullet from her back.

Nyimas, who was wounded in her right shoulder, was discharged from Pasar Rebo Hospital shortly after undergoing treatment.

Aritonang said on Friday investigations had been launched into the shootings.

"We'll study the cases thoroughly to quiet public fear," he said.

He declined to identify the type of bullets.

"Our investigation is still underway."

According to Aritonang, the shootings of both Dewi, an employee of a private company, and Nyimas, a housewife, took place at around 9 a.m.

Dewi, a resident of Pondok Kelapa II in Duren Sawit in East Jakarta, was chatting with two of her friends on the balcony of the fifth floor of the Danau Sunter hotel when she was shot.

The three checked in to the hotel on Wednesday.

"Witnesses (Dewi's friends) said they heard a shot from a distance, but suddenly they saw Dewi fall down with blood running through the back of her shirt," Aritonang said.

Questioned by the police, the hotel's security officers professed to knowing nothing about the shooting, he said.

Nyimas was shot when she was on her way home on Jl. Raya Sentex in the Ciracas area.

Bystanders and motorists, who witnessed the incident, said they saw Nyimas suddenly collapse.

Initially, the people thought she had fainted, but they realized she had been shot when they attempted to help her and saw blood, Aritonang said.

"The road is always busy and from our preliminary investigation we obtained information that some people also heard a shot but no one knew the direction it came from," he said. (emf)