Top city officials shot by colleague in SW China’s Panzhihua

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A senior official opened fire on his colleagues on Wednesday morning in Panzhihua, an inland industrial city in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The local Panzhihua government released a brief statement on its official website, stating that the city’s Party chief Zhang Yan and Mayor Li Jianqin were injured in the shooting which took place at a conference and exhibition center at around 10:50 a.m.

The men were hospitalized but their injuries are not life threatening, the statement added. The suspect reportedly “burst into the conference room and opened fire repeatedly” on officials before fleeing.

An online photo, which cannot be verified by CGTN, appears to show armored vehicles outside the exhibition center after the shooting.

The gunman, identified as Chen Zhongshu, chief of the Panzhihua Land and Resources Bureau, fled the scene but was later found dead, apparently after committing suicide.

The motive for the shooting is unclear. There are as yet no suggestions of tensions between the three men.

File Photo of Chen Zhongshu

Zhang, Panzhihua’s Party chief, has previously worked as the city’s deputy Party chief and head of the local Party discipline inspection department. He was promoted to the role of local Party chief in June 2015. Zhang has worked with Chen, the gunman, for several years, according to a report by Chinese media outlet Global Times on its WeChat account.

Mayor Li has been in Panzhihua since last year. Before arriving in the city, Li worked at the Ministry of Land and Resources, where he led law enforcement and supervision against corruption related to state land and resources.

Shootings are rare occurrences in China, where private ownership of guns is forbidden.

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