Petty quarrel: Man shoots two ‘for denying his son swing’

Shoots himself in the foot; family of the deceased vandalises police post, burns vehicles parked there.

BAHAWALPUR:

A man shot two people on Wednesday for stopping his 15-year-old son from arguing with a man over the use of swings. One of them died on the spot.

The man later shot himself in the foot. The injured were taken to Bahawal Victoria Hospital, where doctors treating them said that they were both now out of danger.

A protest demonstration by the family of the deceased and other neighbours followed.

Some of the protesters said the police had left the other injured lying on the road and taken Abdul Rehman, the assailant, to the hospital “because he belonged to an influential family”. The other injured, they said, was later taken to the hospital by some passers-by.



The protesters gathered in front of the Shahdara police post.  Some of them later set the building on fire. They also set fire to some motorcycles parked there.

Police said Rehman, a resident of Model Town’s Block-C, had an argument with a swings owner for not letting his son take the ride first. They said when two men, later identified as Rizwan and Bilal, told off his son for “yelling at the swings owner”, Rehman brought a rifle from his house and shot them.

Rizwan got a bullet in the head and Bilal in the arm. Rehman then also shot himself in the foot.

Witnesses said police were called and took Rehman to the hospital. Some passers-by took Bilal to the hospital.

Zeeshan Shafiq, who claims to be a witness and a neighbour, told The Express Tribune that he ran of his home on hearing the gunshots. He said he saw the two men lying on the road in a pool of blood. He said he also saw Rehman shoot himself.



Civil Lines Station House Officer Afzaal Lodhi said that Rehman had not been given any favour. He said he was taken to the hospital because he was injured.

He said some people were already taking Bilal to the hospital.

He said that Rehman had been arrested. The SHO also said that cases had been registered against both Rehman and the mob that vandalised the police post.

Later, DPO Sohail Habib Tajik praised the Civil Lines police for arresting the assailant and announced Rs1,000 cash prize for each of the three policemen involved- Sub Inspector Mustafa Khan, SI Adeel Afzal and SI Shoaib Ali.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2013.