Zhou Kehua (, February 6, 1970 – August 14, 2012
) was a Chinese gunman suspected of murder and robbery. According to Chinese media, he is believed to be involved in at least nine murder and robbery cases. He was therefore classified as an A-level wanted criminal of the
Ministry of Public Security.
Early life
Zhou was born in
Jinkou Town,
Shapingba District
Shapingba () is a district of Chongqing, People's Republic of China, formerly known as Shaci District () during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Sino-Japanese War. It is one of the central parts of Chongqing and covers around 396 square kilometers, w ...
,
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
on February 6, 1970. In 1985, at age 15, Zhou was jailed for 14 days on molestation charges. In 2005, he was jailed again for
arms trafficking
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small a ...
.
In 1991, Zhou stole a shotgun in Chongqing. Two years later, he was arrested and sentenced to
Re-education through labor
Re-education through labor (RTL; ), abbreviated ''laojiao'' () was a system of administrative detention on Mainland China. Active from 1957 to 2013, the system was used to detain persons who were accused of committing minor crimes such as pet ...
for illegal possession of firearms. In 1997, he purchased a
Type 54 pistol
The Type 54 () and its variants (Type 51, M20, TU-90 and Model 213 pistols) are Chinese copies of the Soviet type Tokarev TT-33.
Type 54 pistols are also known colloquially as "Black Star" pistols (Traditional Chinese:黑星手槍, Simplified Ch ...
near the border of mainland China and
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
in
Yunnan Province
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
.
Crimes
Zhou is suspected to have killed ten people and robbed millions of
yuan in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
,
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
and
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
between 2004 and 2012.
[
According to police investigators in ]Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...
, Zhou Kehua had been a mercenary soldier
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
in Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
until 2004, which explained his familiarity with guns.
Death
After a massive manhunt, Zhou was shot and killed by police on August 14, 2012.
See also
*List of serial killers by country
This is a list of notable serial killers, by the country where most of the killings occurred.
Convicted serial killers by country Afghanistan
*Abdullah Shah: killed at least 20 travelers on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad while serving under ...
*List of serial killers by number of victims
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, in two or more separate events over a period of time, for primarily psychological reasons.A serial killer is most commonly defined as a person who kills three or more peop ...
References
1970 births
2012 deaths
Chinese bank robbers
Chinese serial killers
Fugitives
Fugitives wanted by China
Male serial killers
People from Chongqing
People shot dead by law enforcement officers in China
{{Crime-bio-stub