Drive-by Shooting not a Simple Case of Road Rage: Police
At least 12 shots were fired at a Mercedes Benz from a BMW at around 1:00am this morning, as the cars were traveling on a road in Kaohsiung City. The driver received a gunshot wound to his back.
The male driver, Mr Xie, 26, and his female passenger, Ms Chen, pulled up at a police station after the shooting. They told police the shooting was the result of a traffic dispute.
Media reports this morning said that police found at least 6 bullet holes in the car, and that Mr Xie and his female friend were on their way to an indoor shrimp fishing pond when a driving dispute resulted in two men shooting from a BMW which overtook them on the left-hand side.
Police retrieved 8 bullet casings from the scene, and more were found and reported by a citizen. By 11:00am this morning, a total of twelve bullet casings had been recovered.
SET News reports that some of the casings are from 5.56mm rounds used in M16 assault rifles and similar weapons. Other shell casings are from a handgun.
Apple Daily reported this afternoon that police began to suspect there was more to the shooting than a simple traffic dispute, when it was discovered that Mr Xie had only owned the car for 1 month, and the previous owner was an environmental engineer. The BMW was also traced and found to be registered to an environmental engineering company.
It was also revealed that Ms Chen was a married woman. Mr Xie is also married.
Police said the technique used in the shooting is also inconsistent with a simple traffic dispute. Bullets raked the car leaving bullet holes in the back, left-hand side, the hood, front windscreen and even the roof of the vehicle. Police suspect that shots were fired by at least two gunmen, one of whom was standing up and firing from the sunroof.
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