"This is a separate team from the one that is probing the three recent shooting cases in Ciputat and Pondok Aren," National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Police have formed a team to investigate the shooting to death of a policeman in Rasuna Said, Kuningan, Jakarta, on Tuesday, according to National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo.

"This is a separate team from the one that is probing the three recent shooting cases in Ciputat and Pondok Aren," he said here on Thursday.

Pradopo revealed that that the bullet shells found from the crime scene in Kuningan were different from those found at the locations of three shooting incidents that took place earlier.

"In Pondok Aren and Ciputat, the bullets found were of 4.5 mm caliber, while in Kuningan 9mm-caliber bullets were found," he explained.

Pradopo stated that 11 witnesses had been interrogated in connection with the shooting incident in Kuningan, and a special team had been conduct in-depth investigation.

"Apart from the team that is investigating the three earlier incidents in which the suspects are already know, we have set up another one to focus exclusively on the latest incident. We are still collecting information from witnesses," he said.

Besides basing its investigation on the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) recording, Pradopo continued, the team was also examining the projectiles found from the crime scene.

"We are not yet sure about from the type of gun from which these projectiles were fired. We are analyzing them all, including the CCTV recording," he added.

On Tuesday night, a police officer was shot to death while escorting trucks carrying construction materials.

Chief Brig. Sukardi, a police officer commissioned with the provost division of the National Police, was shot dead on Tuesday night by an unidentified gunman in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission office at Rasuna Said Street, Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The police are trying to develop sketches of the perpetrators' faces based on the information provided by eyewitnesses and images captured on CCTV cameras.

In July this year, Adj. Second Insp. Patah Saktiyono was wounded after being shot at by unidentified gunmen in Cirendeu, South Tangerang.

A month later, three police officers', Adj. First Insp. Dwiyatno, Second Brig. Maulana, and Adj. Second Insp. Kus Hendratma, were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Pondok Aren and in Ciputat, also in South Tangerang.

Meanwhile, the National Police Headquarters' head of public relations division, Inspector General Rommy F Sompie, revealed that the death of Second Adjunct Inspector Sukardi on Tuesday had been planned.

"Therefore, we will refer to the article on premeditated murder," he said on Thursday.

Sompie mentioned that the police will refer to Article 340 of the criminal code on premeditated murder and Article 338 on murder.

As for the missing gun of Sukardi after the incident, the police will refer to the fourth paragraph of Article 365 of the criminal code on theft with violence, he continued.

Sompie said the police arrived at their conclusions after examining at evidence collected by investigators and the autopsy results, adding that the suspects ambushed the victim before shooting him and taking away his gun.

"Before committing the crime, they must have planned it all well in advance," he pointed out.

Although the case is still categorised as a criminal incident, the police have not ruled out the possibility of the incident being a terrorist attack.

"We will know the truth after the perpetrators are caught," Sompie said.

Second Adjunct Inspector Sukardi is survived by his wife, Tirta Sari (44), and three children, Dita Kardina Putri (19), Devi Novita (16), and M Adi Wibowo (8).(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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