Police kill man in error while trying to stop riot
      
AP    
Monday, May 10, 2004

WARSAW The police accidentally shot and killed a 19-year-old man when they mistakenly fired live bullets to stop a street fight started by hooligans in a central Polish city, a senior official said Sunday.

A 23-year-old woman also was in critical condition after being shot in the head and two others were seriously hurt after the incident late Saturday in Lodz.

The police said fighting began when a group of youths - apparently soccer fans - attacked students. Police officers intervened and at one point, reloaded their weapons with live bullets and fired six shots before realizing their mistake, a deputy national police chief, Henryk Tokarski, told Poland's PAP news agency. The mistake prompted the Lodz police chief, Jan Feja, and his deputy to resign Sunday.

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