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Polish Cops Accidentally Use Live Bullets
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May 9, 11:19 PM (ET)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Police mistakenly opened fire with live ammunition to stop a street fight in a central Polish city, killing a 19-year-old man and wounding three others, officials said Sunday.
A 23-year-old woman was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and two others were seriously wounded in the violence late Saturday in Lodz.
The shootings prompted Lodz police chief Jan Feja and his deputy, Sylwester Stepien, to resign. Lodz Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki called for three days of mourning.
The fighting began when a group of soccer fans, apparently angered when their team lost a match, attacked some students. The attackers threw stones and bottles at police as they arrived.
Police responded by firing rubber bullets to disperse the fighters. But some officers accidently reloaded with live ammunition and fired six rounds before realizing their mistake, deputy national police chief Henryk Tokarski told Poland's PAP news agency. Four people were hit.
Krzysztof Piatkowski, an emergency official in the city, said as many as 70 people were injured and 19 people detained in Saturday's disturbances.
Polish media reported that the soccer fans were returning from a match in which local team Widzew Lodz lost 2-1 to rival Gornik Zabrze when they started attacking the students.
Polish Cops Accidentally Use Live Bullets
Email this Story
May 9, 11:19 PM (ET)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Police mistakenly opened fire with live ammunition to stop a street fight in a central Polish city, killing a 19-year-old man and wounding three others, officials said Sunday.
A 23-year-old woman was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and two others were seriously wounded in the violence late Saturday in Lodz.
The shootings prompted Lodz police chief Jan Feja and his deputy, Sylwester Stepien, to resign. Lodz Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki called for three days of mourning.
The fighting began when a group of soccer fans, apparently angered when their team lost a match, attacked some students. The attackers threw stones and bottles at police as they arrived.
Police responded by firing rubber bullets to disperse the fighters. But some officers accidently reloaded with live ammunition and fired six rounds before realizing their mistake, deputy national police chief Henryk Tokarski told Poland's PAP news agency. Four people were hit.
Krzysztof Piatkowski, an emergency official in the city, said as many as 70 people were injured and 19 people detained in Saturday's disturbances.
Polish media reported that the soccer fans were returning from a match in which local team Widzew Lodz lost 2-1 to rival Gornik Zabrze when they started attacking the students.
