Suspect arrested in shooting death of bystander to Amman brawl

AMMAN — Police on Thursday said they arrested a suspect in connection with the shooting death of a young man in Amman a day earlier.

The 26-year-old victim was standing in a street in Wihdat suburb when he was struck by a bullet, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The victim was standing near a group of people who had engaged in a brawl and were using weapons,” the police official told The Jordan Times.

Sartawi added that initial investigations indicated that the victim was shot “by a stray bullet because he happened to be standing near the incident”.

A PSD statement said police arrested the suspect and seized a firearm that was in his possession.

During questioning, the suspect confessed to firing several shots and hitting the victim, the statement said.

A team of government pathologists at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine performed an autopsy on the victim and indicated that he died of a single bullet wound to the stomach, a senior medical source said.

“The victim received a fatal shot to his stomach, and he was shot from a distance,” the medical source told The Jordan Times. 

The case was referred to the prosecutor after the arrest of several others who were allegedly involved in the brawl, according to the PSD statement.