Police without full bulletproof gear hesitated to enter the crime scene, not knowing that the suspect had fled the scene in his car
A transcript of conversations among police officers responding to last month's deadly shooting in Incheon indicates that the officers did not have proper safety equipment, causing a slight delay in their entry into the crime scene.
Rep. Youn Kun-young of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Monday revealed the transcripts of radio transmissions between the control center of the Yeonsu Police Station in Incheon and the on-site officers, who were sent to a home where a 62-year-old suspect had shot his son and tried to attack the rest of the family on July 20.
The victim's wife, who locked herself and her children inside a room, called the police at around 9:31 p.m. Four minutes after the call, Yeonsu Police Station ordered all officers to equip themselves with stun guns, bulletproof vests and ballistic helmets before proceeding to the crime scene.
Crucial delay in response
Officials from a patrol unit arrived at the crime scene shortly after 9:42 p.m. There, they told the control center that the suspect had a loaded gun and that the situation called for bulletproof shields, ballistic helmets and a SWAT unit. The unit's leader was asked whether members of his team were wearing bulletproof equipment, to which the leader answered, "They're wearing bulletproof vests but don't have the helmets. We have shields, but they're not bulletproof."
At around 9:54 p.m., the leader said the team knew the combination to the digital lock on the front door, but were concerned that they would be shot by the suspect.
It was also revealed that the control center had asked for the ages of the suspect, the victim and the person who reported the crime, to which the patrol unit leader answered, "That's not what's important here. I said the father-in-law (of the victim's wife) is waiting with a gun in the living room. Please send a SWAT team."
A SWAT team arrived shortly afterward, but only equipped with stab-proof vests, which caused a further delay in the officers entering the home.
Officers entered the home at around 10:43 p.m., over an hour after the initial report, but the suspect had already fled the scene in a car. The suspect was arrested almost two hours after the crime, in Bangbae-dong, southern Seoul, which is about 30 kilometers from the crime scene.
It was later confirmed that the suspect had fled immediately after the crime in his car, meaning he was on the road even as the under-equipped police officers waited outside the door. The radio transmission showed that around 10:49 p.m. officers said that "We've checked, and the suspect is not here. I think it's possible he may have escaped before the police arrived."
Police reportedly did not check surveillance footage at the apartment complex where the shooting occurred or track down the suspect via his mobile phone.
The suspect, identified only by the surname Jo, is under investigation for the murder of his son, violating gun laws, and the attempted murder of four people: his daughter-in-law, his two grandchildren and an acquaintance of his son's family.
He had also arranged for flammable materials to ignite at around noon on July 21, at his home in Dobong-gu, Seoul.
Police said last month that the suspect is suffering from delusions stemming from his loneliness. It was found that the suspect's wife had divorced him after he was convicted of a sex crime in 1998, but they kept the divorce a secret from their son until he grew up and got married.
Evidence showed that the suspect's ex-wife and son had financially supported their estranged ex-husband and father, even holding a birthday party for him on the day of the crime.
"It is believed that (the suspect) was under the false belief that he still had a loving family, like before (the crime). When his ex-wife left him completely after his son got married, he falsely believed that the family had cut him off," police said in a July 29 briefing.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
