Friday, June 8, 2007

Wedding Turns Tragic, 5 Killed, 9 Injured When Man Fires At Crowd

SONG (Sarawak), June 7 - Five people were killed and nine others injured when an enraged man fired at the crowd attending a wedding reception in a longhouse here Wednesday night.

Song Police Chief ASP Entusa Iman said a 36-year-old Indonesian man married to the longhouse chief's daughter suddenly opened fired at the crowd over a misunderstanding.

Preliminary investigations revealed the man fired four shots from a shotgun from outside the longhouse at "Ruai" or public gallery where the guests had gathered for the reception.

He then went into the "Ruai" to fire another shot in the 9pm incident at the "Rh.Enchan", a longhouse in Ulu Engkabau, Katibas, a 10-minute ride upriver by longboat from here and another one hour on foot, he said.

Of the nine injured, two sustained serious injuries, Entusa said. All of them have been admitted to the Kapit Hospital.

The bodies of the dead have also been sent to the same hospital for post-mortem but their identities have not been released.

The Indonesian surrendered to the police at about 1.20am Thursday.

On the probable reason for the carnage, Entusa said he was told that some youths had persistently teased the Indonesian over his statelessness during the Gawai dayak celebrations at the longhouse over the past four days.

"Probably he could not take it anymore," he said of the Indonesian who does not have an identity card. He has three daughters.

Entusa could not tell if any of the youths were among those killed or injured in the incident.

"The bride and the bridegroom are safe," he added.

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