Four wounded in rare Hong Kong shooting

HONG KONG: Four people were wounded, two critically, during a brazen daylight shooting at a park in Hong Kong on Tuesday, a rare firearms attack in a city with a reputation for safety.
Police said a 44-year-old woman fired at four people at a harbourfront park near a largely residential neighbourhood for middle-income families in eastern Hong Kong Island.
Local TV footage showed an injured man sitting on the ground with a bloodied arm while another was carried into an ambulance.
Two of the victims were shot in the head and are in critical condition, while the two others were shot in the arm, authorities said. Their ages ranged from 50 to 72.
A 44-year-old woman was later arrested at a shopping mall nearby.
"We believe the lady to be the assailant and we recovered a firearm from her possession," Chief Inspector Hui Hong Kit told the press.
Hui said the preliminary investigation suggests the attack was motivated by a "family conflict" and was not linked to organised crime.
The wounded are brothers and sisters, he added, while the alleged shooter — who used a semi-automatic pistol — is their niece.
Shootings are extremely unusual in Hong Kong which boasts a relatively low level of street and violent crime as well as strict gun ownership controls.
Some violent assaults and murders are attributed to the city's fearsome triad organised crime syndicates, but even when gangs settle scores they rarely use firearms. — AFP