A police officer is suspected of killing a civilian after a violent dispute erupted between two families in Dar Al-Salam on Tuesday night.
An initial forensic report for Hesham Hassan, the victim, states that the he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Human rights lawyer Karim Abdelhady told Daily News Egypt that the dispute was between the Hendy and Abosaree families and that the deceased intervened to break up the fight between them.
Abdelhady claimed that the family of the victim and many witnesses believe that a police officer named Haitham Khalaf, who lives in a building owned by the Hendy family, haphazardly opened fire from the building to dispel the two families’ clash. Hassan was subsequently hit in the chest and died upon arriving at the hospital.
This is not the first time the Interior Ministry has come under pressure for the actions of one of its security personnel. In December, a police officer and a low-ranking police officer were sentenced to life in prison for “torturing a prisoner to death”. Another police officer was sentenced to seven years in prison for also torturing a citizen to death.
The Interior Ministry adamantly insisted on its stance that these events are “individual cases”, saying that they are not “systemic”.
Police are currently investigating what caused the shooting, filing a report and referring the case to the prosecution. However, it remains unclear whether or not Hesham Hassan was killed by the suspected police officer.
