Shots fired, three injured in Hong Kong triad clash

A machete-wielding gang attacked a rival group in one of Hong Kong’s busiest nightlife areas in the early hours of Friday, injuring a man with a gunshot wound and two others, police said.

Dramatic dashcam footage showing knife-armed men jumping out of a car and attacking a nearby vehicle before abruptly turning and fleeing has been widely shared.

Senior Superintendent Tony Ho said the incident was a case of “retaliation” between two organized crime groups – known as triads – for sharing profits from criminal activities such as drug dealing and illegal gambling.

“The incident was instigated by two triad groups, they have been at each other’s throats for a long time,” Ho told reporters, adding that four men were arrested.

Three cars from a gang were waiting at a traffic light when they were ambushed by at least eight attackers, Ho said, but the ambush was quickly repelled.

At least two shots were fired against the instigators, the superintendent added, although no further details were given on the shooter’s identity.

Earlier in the day, a section of road near the popular Lan Kwai Fong neighborhood was cordoned off by armed officers as they searched a Lexus with the side and front crushed in for evidence.

A dashcam video whose location, timestamp and events match police descriptions of the clash emerged on Friday, although AFP was unable to trace the exact origin of the footage.

Video shows a line of vehicles stopping at a traffic intersection as attackers wielding machete-like knives jump out of what appears to be the Lexus left at the scene Friday and begin attacking a neighboring white car.

As the men begin the attack, a black van behind the white car rams into the attackers’ car, hitting at least two of the attackers before speeding away from the scene.

Several other men with knives run into the frame, but after continuing the attack for a few seconds, most of the perpetrators abruptly turn and flee the scene.

Police received reports of the clash at 2:40 a.m. local time (1840 GMT) and arrived at the scene to find six men, all belonging to the group that started the attack.

Officers arrested three of them, aged between 23 and 42, for attempted assault and possession of assault weapons, and a 36-year-old after he was taken to hospital with a leg injury.

Of the two remaining men, a 25-year-old with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and a 30-year-old on the head were operated on Friday afternoon.

A 9mm bullet that may have been fired from a semi-automatic pistol, a cartridge case and nine knives were found at the scene, police said.

Superintendent Ho said police are trying to recover the firearm used, but added that the public should not be alarmed by “a single, isolated incident,” noting that gun crimes remain rare in Hong Kong.

A few hours after the attack, police found the burnt-out wreckage of a car believed to belong to the attacked gang in the rural area of ​​Pat Heung.

Hong Kong’s triads date back to 19th-century Chinese brotherhoods.

Although they have little of the power of their heyday in the 1970s and 1990s, they remain a presence in the city, particularly when it comes to extortion and thug smuggling.