A police officer died in the line of duty yesterday after a late night shootout with a convicted killer and his friends who were partying at a Taichung County KTV.
Su Hsian-pi (蘇憲丕), 33, was shot in the right cheek -- with the bullet exiting from the back of his head -- and in the chest. He was immediately rushed to a local hospital for emergency treatment but died at 8:30am, leaving behind his elderly mother, his wife and three children, the oldest of whom is in fourth grade.
The convicted killer, Luo Wu-hsiung (羅武雄), 39, also died in the shootout. Luo's criminal record included manslaughter, robbery and embezzlement.
Police said that Su and two of his colleagues were responding to a call for assistance from a KTV business owner after hearing shots being fired in a room. According to preliminary investigations, Luo fired one of his two guns at the ceiling, allegedly to "celebrate by setting off firecrackers."
Su rushed into the room, shouting "police, don't move" and was promptly shot, according to police. His two colleagues emptied their magazines and fired 16 shots into the room, killing Luo and hitting two of his cohorts -- Cheng Hsin-tze (鄭性澤), 34, who also fired at police with two guns, and Liang Han-chang (梁漢璋), 31.
Three other men -- Chang Pang-lung (張邦龍), 41, Chen Chien-ching (陳健清), 34, and Wu Ming-tang (吳銘堂), 33 -- as well as a woman, Hsiao Ju-wen (蕭汝汶), 25, were also at the scene. They were all retained for questioning.
National Police Administration Director-General Wang Chin-wang (王進旺) paid his respects to Su's family and pledged that they will be well cared for.
RSS