Police Open Fire on Vehicle, 17-Year-Old Seyhan Loses His Life

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Police officers opened fire on a vehicle in the district of Ataşehir in İstanbul. One of the three people who were in the vehicle during the incident has been shot to death. One person has been taken into custody.

It has been alleged that the police opened fire on the vehicle "on the ground that it did not obey the stop warning."

One person detained

The incident occured in the Neighborhood of Mustafa Kemal in Ataşehir at around 4 p.m. yesterday (December 11).

As reported by news agencies, the police officers on patrol in the neighborhood became suspicious of a vehicle and attempted to stop it. However, the vehicle did not obey the warning and continued moving. Police opened fire on the vehicle, which also hit other cars on its way.

The vehicle stopped after the fire opened by the police and 17-year-old Cihan Seyhan, who was one of the three people in the vehicle and was injured in the incident, was taken to a private hospital in the vicinity. 17-year-old Cihan Seyhan has lost his life at the hospital.

The relative of Seyhan, A.S., who was also in the vehicle, has been detained. The driver of the vehicle G.S., who fled the scene of incident, is still being searched. Two firearms were found in the searches conducted in the vehicle.

389 deaths perpetrated by police in 11 years

According to a report released by the Baran Tursun Foundation entitled "Report on Deaths Perpetrated by Police Officers Between 2007-2017", 389 deaths in total were caused by police officers in the indicated time period.

The report has also stated that the last person who was killed after a "stop warning" was Abdullah Arat from Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Arat was shot to death on the allegation that he disobeyed the stop warning of the police in the district of Ergani. (AS/SD)

* Photograph: Mezopotamya Agency