Main culprit identified in US soldier BB gun incident

[한겨레] After three suspects gave conflicting accounts, which soldier drove and fired the BB gun now known to police

By Choi Yu-bin and Park Hyun-chul, staff reporters

It has been confirmed that the ringleader who is charged with ramming a car into the following police vehicle during a disturbance caused by US soldiers on Mar. 2 in downtown Seoul is staff sergeant L, 26, the owner of the car.

"L, the prime suspect, voluntarily showed up for questioning," the Yongsan Police Department in Seoul said on Mar. 11. "L admitted that he had shot the BB gun and that he had been driving until the very end of the confrontation with police officers."

While L had largely admitted his part in the criminal activities during two previous rounds of questioning by the police, his account of who was driving the vehicle and who had been the main culprit in attempting a getaway conflicted with that provided by the people who had been in the car with him, corporal W, 23, and private first class D, 22. L, who showed up at the Yongsan Police Station around 2 pm on Mar. 11, is reported to have told police on Mar. 9 that he wanted to meet with them, saying, "There is something I want to say."

"Various pieces of evidences and accounts had led us to conclude that L had driven the car and shot the BB gun," a source at the Yongsan Police Department said. "It looks like L confessed so he could receive a lighter sentence during the trial. We are currently using the various accounts to piece together what exactly happened during the car chase."

Meeting with reporters on the same day, Kim Ki-yong, Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency, acknowledged that the police response had been lackluster. "While the US soldiers were fleeing and the police officers were following them in a taxi, the patrol cars that had been dispatched were not able to intervene and couldn't even stay on their trail to the end," said Kim.

"Because of the extreme pressure of the situation, and also the fact that the officer was not very familiar with the geography of Seoul, he was not able to provide an accurate report of his location," Kim said. "I have given orders to remedy these shortcomings through enhanced education and training."

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