Man who threatened temple employee with replica gun formally detained by police
Police formally detained a man in Jinju who had been in custody since allegedly threatening one temple employee with a replica weapon, injuring another with his car and leading police on a 50-kilometer (31-mile) chase while drunk.
Police vehicles block a road as officers respond to a pursuit of a man who allegedly threatened a temple employee with a replica gun in Jinju, South Gyeongsang, on July 29.
YONHAP
A man who allegedly threatened a temple employee with a replica gun and led police on a 50-kilometer (31-mile) chase in Jinju, South Gyeongsang, was formally detained by police after being held in custody since the incident.
The man was detained on charges including aggravated assault, aggravated obstruction of official duties and drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act, the Jinju Police Station said Monday.
The man is accused of threatening a temple employee with a replica gun in the parking lot of a temple in Chojeon-dong, Jinju, at around 2:50 p.m. on July 29.
He is also accused of hitting another temple employee with his car while fleeing the scene. The employee had attempted to block the man from driving away and reportedly suffered minor injuries.
Police responded after receiving a report that a strange person had told the caller to get into a vehicle, and pursued the man for about 50 kilometers while attempting to block his escape.
Officers were able to completely blocked the vehicle near an intersection in Jiphyeon-myeon, Jinju, then fired two warning shots and four live rounds to bring the vehicle to a stop. Police then broke the driver’s side window with a collapsible baton and fired a Taser before apprehending the man.
Five police officers were injured during the operation, while four police vehicles and one civilian vehicle were damaged.
The replica gun was found to be an 87-centimeter-long (34-inch-long) BB gun, according to the police. The man’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.076 percent when he was apprehended, a level warranting the suspension of his driver’s license.
The man allegedly committed the offenses while already booked for violating a court-issued restraining order during divorce proceedings with his wife. He has reportedly given incoherent explanations about why he went to the temple and his motive for the alleged offenses.
“Our investigation found that the man and the temple employees did not know each other,” a police official said. “He appears to have purchased the replica gun online about a month before the incident. We plan to investigate the specific motive behind the offenses.”
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
