The murder of a government official in the coastal city of
Zhanjiang in south China's Guangdong Province is being investigated
by local police.?
Chen Zhenghua, 51, deputy director of the Marine and Fishery
Bureau of Suixi County (MFBSC) in Zhanjiang, was killed in his
office on Wednesday morning at around 10 AM.
Sources with the Suixi public security authority revealed
yesterday that an hour after the murder, Xuan Xiong, 56, director
of the MFBSC, confessed to the crime.
"We're investigating the cause of death. We were greatly shocked
when Xuan surrendered himself since, you know, both Xuan and Chen
are government officials working in the same office," said a local
police officer surnamed Deng. Xuan and Chen had held their posts
for several years.
"We've never heard of any personal dispute between them. We are
so curious about Xuan's reason for killing his colleague," a clerk
at Xuan's bureau who declined to be named was quoted as saying by
the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.
"Xuan had developed very good relationships with his colleagues.
We don't know why he committed such a crime since he's even afraid
of killing a chicken," said the clerk, who formerly worked as
Xuan's personal driver.
Xuan returned to his home just before 11 AM on Wednesday and was
"very depressed", according to his wife. "He even contemplated
suicide but I stopped him and later he told me that he had killed
his colleague," she said.?
The murder follows another case in which six people were killed
in the Nanhai District of Foshan in Guangdong.
In that case initial investigation by the Foshan public security
authority said Huang Wenyi, who was suspected of killing five
members of his family and one of his employees, may have "suffered
from a serious mental problem". Huang, 34, who was arrested on
Monday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, is being
questioned.?
In the latest twist local police discovered a "secret letter"
written by Huang at his home. However, details about the letter
haven't been disclosed. A police officer surnamed Xiao said the
results of the investigation would be announced today.
(China Daily January 5, 2007)