Hong Kong cop killer wore wig

Hong Kong has to be one of the safest cities in the world, outside of Japan. Sure, there are crimes, but violence against the person is an uncommon occurence in the public space. Gun crime is extremely rare and when it occurs is usually perpetrated by gangland robbers from mainland China. Policemen do, however, carry service revolvers -- a legacy of Hong Kong's colonial past.

What happened in Tsim Sha Tsui in the pedestrian subway at the northwestern end of Kowloon Park (junction of Canton Road and Austin Road) at around 1:15am on Friday morning is as yet to be fully determined.
What is known is that one uniformed policeman was shot dead, another severely wounded, and a third man (who turned out to be an off-duty policeman) also died of his gun-shot wounds.
Since when, the plot has mightly thickened.
The off-duty policeman used a revolver which once belonged to another policeman. . . the latter having been ambushed and shot dead with his own weapon five years ago. No one was every arrested and convicted for that murder. The missing gun was later used in several bank and jewellery shop robberies. The gun was not recovered until now.
Since when police leaks to the media include: the off-work policeman had finished a shift one hour before the fusillade, was a member of an illegal football betting syndicate, and was wearing a wig at the time of the shoot out.
Further to all that is today's news that in a subsequent search of his flat HK$1.2 million in cash was found hidden and another HK$950,000 was discovered in his locker at work. More, as they say, will be revealed.

Mister B is not big on Hong Kong gangster movies, but can recommend the 2003 beautifully cinematographic, taut thriller PTU, directed by Johnnie To. Set at night, the film has sober long shots of eerily deserted neighbourhoods, triad rivalries, cell-phone mix-ups, corrupt police and a missing pistol which needs to be recovered before dawn. PTU? As in Police Tactical Unit.