Suspect in attempted robbery falls to death after being tracked down by police

Man, 35, was found unconscious outside building after officers broke down bedroom door

A jobless man suspected of attempted robbery fell to his death from his 27th-floor flat in the early hours of Thursday after police pored over roadside surveillance footage to trace him from Yau Ma Tei to his home in Wong Tai Sin.

The suspect, who was recently declared bankrupt, was inside his locked bedroom when officers wearing bulletproof vests broke into his Pak Yuen House flat at Chuk Yuen North Estate at about 12.30am on Thursday - about 13 hours after the bungled hold-up.

His mother was in the living room, while his younger brother, sister-in-law and the couple's baby were in another bedroom at the time of the police raid.

Within three minutes, officers broke the door down and entered his room, but the 35-year-old man was no longer inside. He was found lying unconscious on the ground outside the building, and certified dead at the scene.

Investigators were still determining whether he had fallen by accident or committed suicide. "It is possible he tried to climb from his room to an adjacent lift lobby but fell by accident," a police source said, adding that officers were looking into all possibilities.

The manhunt began after police received a report on an attempted robbery at a money changer's shop on Nathan Road in Yau Ma Tei at about 10.30am on Wednesday. Security camera footage showed a man wearing a cap and surgical mask pulling out what appeared to be a pistol and threatening a female employee.

She defied the would-be robber, who fled empty-handed.

Detectives from the Yau Tsim police district crime squad checked the security camera footage in an effort to identify the suspect and track him down.

"Even though officers failed to find out how he escaped, they checked CCTV footage and found the suspect arrived by bus," another police source said. He added that officers then collected CCTV footage from shops and buildings to trace him from Yau Ma Tei to his Wong Tai Sin flat.

The sources said the suspect who fell to his death was a former restaurant kitchen worker and had been unemployed for months. Inside his bedroom, officers recovered clothes that matched those seen in the footage, along with an air pistol.

Officers from the Kowloon West regional crime unit are investigating.

Source: SCMP