Gunshots were fired by rival gangs in downtown Kaohsiung yesterday morning, with a stray bullet hitting a breakfast restaurant clerk, but luckily the injury was not life-threatening and he was treated at a local hospital.
According to a preliminary police investigation, the shooting was related to a dispute between two Kaohsiung gangs who operate nightclubs and prostitution services.
The vice squad said the dispute was between two groups of about 10 gang members in four vehicles.
All the cars gathered near a gas station on Boai 1st Road (博愛一路) after apparently agreeing to meet and negotiate in the area, Kaohsiung Criminal Investigation Department head Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘忠) said.
Tseng said police are trying to track down a known dangerous gangster surnamed Huang (黃), who witnesses said was carrying a handgun and started the shooting yesterday morning.
Both sides arrived for the “negotiation” carrying wooden bats and clubs, and it appeared that Huang was the only person who arrived with a firearm.
Witnesses described hearing a quarrel, before a man jumped out of a car with a baseball bat and hit the side of another car and broke its windows, before the cars sped away.
A silver sedan tried to lose a pursuing vehicle by making a U-turn, but it got stuck on the road’s median divider and all the occupants transferred to a black car, witnesses said.
Huang was then seen firing six shots at the silver sedan.
The car chase continued along Dashun Road (大順路), where witnesses said Huang leaned out of his vehicle and fired two shots at the rival gang’s cars. He missed and a stray bullet struck an 18-year-old employee of a soybean milk breakfast store on the right arm.
The teenager was later taken to a local hospital for medical treatment.
Kaohsiung police officials said they have formed a task force to handle the case and are trying to track down several suspects, as well as following up on leads.
Tseng told reporters that the “negotiation” could have been about a prostitute, who recently jumped ship from one gang to another, resulting in a dispute over compensation.
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