An Egyptian police officer has opened fire on a train on Tuesday, killing at least one man and injuring five in the city of Samalout in the Minya governorate in southern Egypt, a medical source reported on Tuesday evening. A security source also announced that Amer Ashour, who works at a police station in the city, had waited for the train to halt before he boarded the train and opened fire randomly with his gun, before fleeing the scene. The man was taken into custody half an hour after the shooting and authorities is currently questioning him to determine the motive. The man killed happened to be a Coptic man, and there is no indication that there was a sectarian motive surrounding the random shooting. Reuters news agency identified the dead man as 71-year-old Fathy Ghatas and added that his body was taken to a local hospital along with the five injured. The man's wife was among the injured and all are receiving medical care at the hospital, medical sources said. Hundreds gathered outside of the hospital late Tuesday night. Reuters reported that the crowds that had gathered outside the hospital in protest of the shooting threw stones at the police guarding the medical facility and in response, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Some of the protesters were admitted to the hospital suffering from the gas and mild injuries after clashing with the police. Eyewitnesses told local reporters that the police stopped men from entering the hospital to donate blood for the injured, which precipitated the violence outside the facility. A security source also announced that the officer is mentally unstable and was in treatment, without explaining why he remained in possession of his gun throughout that process. BM
