Police put up reward in deadly robbery

Police on Friday investigate the site of a robbery in which a woman was killed and two men were injured by gunfire in front of a bank in Shapingba district, Chongqing. Chen Chao / China News Service

Police have offered a reward of 500,000 yuan ($78,600) to anyone who can offer information that will lead to the arrest of a suspect in a deadly shooting in Chongqing on Friday.

The police have identified the suspect as Zhou Kehua, a 42-year-old from Ertang village, Shapingba district of Chongqing municipality.

The shooting occurred at about 9:34 am on Friday outside a Bank of China outlet in Shapingba district. Zhou is alleged to have killed a woman and wounded two men in a robbery attempt, Chongqing police said in a statement.

Zhou took a shoulder bag from the dead woman, fled the scene and then took a motorcycle taxi, police said.

In a notice issued to the public, police described Zhou as being 167 centimeters tall and having a junior middle school education.

He has a strong Chongqing accent, relatively dark skin, and a scar on his right eyebrow.

Zhou has committed robbery several times in Jiangsu and Hunan provinces, as well as Chongqing since 2004, killing several people and taking a large sum of cash, police said.

By of Friday afternoon, the bank outlet had been closed and police had cordoned off the crime scene. Blood stains could still be seen on the ground, and the dead woman's car was still parked outside the bank.

Zhu Xiaoying, who runs a milk shop opposite the outlet, said she thought the sound of the gunfire came from a tire popping.

"I did not realize it was a robbery until I heard someone shout 'Robbery!"' Zhu said.

Zhu went out of her shop and saw two people, a man and a woman, lying in blood. Zhu said she saw the gunman walking away from the scene of the shooting and then shoot a security guard from the bank who came out to chase him.

"The security guard was shot in the right arm. It scared everyone, and no one else dared to stand in his way," Zhu said.

Zhu said she tried to call the police but couldn't reach them. Police did not arrive until 10 am, when they sent the victims to a hospital, Zhu said.

He Lei contributed to this story.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn