Traffic warden, passerby shot dead over parking row in Rawalpindi

A man on Tuesday opened fire in a “heat of the moment” incident and shot dead a traffic warden and passerby after he was prevented from parking his car in a no-parking spot of Rawalpindi’s Committee Chowk area, a private media outlet reported.

While the Waris Khan police failed to arrive at the scene of the incident in time despite being a few yards away, the people present in the area rushed to surround the assailant and after seizing his weapon, started to beat him up.

Meanwhile, the critically injured men were rushed to a nearby hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.

According to the police, the accused was arrested and the weapon – a Kalashnikov – was taken into custody.

The bodies of the deceased were sent for post-mortem examination and an investigation into the incident has been launched by the police. Rawalpindi police spokesperson Imran Kazmi said that a case had been registered against the accused under Sections 302 and 324 of the PPC.

The incident that took place a few minutes before iftar claimed the lives of Shahid Sarwar, a resident of Kallar Syedan and was recently reinstated into the traffic police after having spent two years in Dubai. The passerby, identified as Nisar, was a resident of Gujranwala and worked in Raja Bazar as a tailor.