A police officer was killed in a gunfight with a criminal suspect in northern Seoul and the suspect involved in the shooting has been apprehended, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.

In the gunfight that began at around 6:30 p.m. in front of a tunnel near Beon-dong in northern Seoul, the 45-year-old suspect, identified only by his family name Seong, opened fire with a privately manufactured gun, according to the police.


The police responded to a report that the suspect had attacked his neighbor with a blunt object. He ran into the tunnel after he spotted the police and was carrying six guns, all made of wood, when he was apprehended, a police officer said.  

The suspect is presumed to have made the wooden guns based on manufacturing methods available from the Internet.


The suspect cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet that he was wearing due to previous involvement in a sexual offense before he began to run towards the tunnel, the officer said.

A police officer, 54, was shot in the gunfight and was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but died during surgery. The neighbor who was attacked, who also turns out to be the suspect's landlord, is undergoing treatment for his wounds.


The landlord and the tenant were engaged in an argument before he became violent. The police have begun an investigation into what caused the verbal fight. (Yonhap)