Beijing: A Chinese man, who went on a shooting
spree gunning down three judges before killing himself, wanted
to take revenge on the court for fixing a lengthy timeline for
payment of compensation to him in a property dispute case,
according to a letter written by him before the attack.
46-year-old Zhu Jun, head of a bank security squad, had
carried out the attack in Lingling district court in Yongzhou
city of central Hunan province on Tuesday.
In the letter he wrote before the incident, he said the
court had heard his property sales dispute case in 2006.
Zhu had won the lawsuit, with the court asking the losing
party to pay him 20,000 yuan (USD 2,940) as compensation in
eight months. However, he felt that eight months was too long
a period.
He also alleged in the letter that the court delayed
other compensations which were to be received by him.
These circumstances made him angry and revengeful,
according to the letter, contents of which were published by
the state media here today.
In the letter, Zhu said he came up with the idea of
revenge and suicide after he divorced his wife three years ago
and was diagnosed with late-stage cancer.
Zhu, who worked for a postal bank bureau`s security
department in Lingling district, lied to one of his
subordinates that he needed to get some of the department`s
guns examined by higher authorities and took a sub-machine gun
and two pistols from him.
Armed with the automatic weapons, he barged into an
office on the fourth floor of the court building and opened
fire on the judges and staff. Three judges were killed and
another judge and two clerks were injured in the attack.
After that, Zhu put a gun in his mouth and shot himself
dead.
None of the judges killed by Zhu were in anyway involved
in his property dispute case, local police said.
Zhu, who had a son, lived with his parents.
The incident alarmed courts nationwide, with many
adopting more strict security measures to ensure safety.
Several courts in Beijing increased security procedures
and police guards.
Fengtai district court held an emergency meeting soon
after the shooting on Tuesday and now people have to go
through three rounds of security checks to get into the court.
In Chaoyang district court, five or six policemen are now
stationed at the security door and the checks are strict.
Liquids, cameras and computers are all banned in the court.
"All courts in Beijing have been very careful about
security, not only to protect judges, but also to prevent
litigants having conflicts. I don`t think the case in Hunan is
likely to happen in any court in Beijing," said a publicity
official from the Chaoyang district court.
PTI
