There’s a newscast after the jump that reveals a lot of interesting details on Zhou Kehua’s final days, some of which I’ll curate here. (It also features a silly animation of the police shootout on Tuesday that killed him, which I won’t comment on.) China Daily has whipped up a good story as well, noting that Zhou was actually spotted in a shopping mall on Saturday, but police failed to capture him. (Give Zhou this: he’s got balls of brass to walk through a public mall while a manhunt is on for his capture.)

We learn from the newscast that Zhou, who never used a cell phone, was constantly on a phone in his final days. Every night, he spoke with the woman pictured above, who police have since apprehended and identified as his girlfriend. She was likely the person who drove Zhou, via motorbike, to the Bank of China last Friday, when he killed a woman and injured two others. Zhou reportedly told her he didn’t get much money that day, and was planning another heist on the 14th — the day he was gunned down.

The newscaster reveals that eight years ago, Zhou pulled a heist that netted 500,000 yuan, but only 60,000 of that was recovered. Where did all the money go? Supposedly to his family. The John Dillinger comparison just gets better and better. If only he’d been shot outside the movie theater — remember, two cinema tickets were found in his pocket; on Sunday and Monday, he apparently went to see Lockout and The Silent War.

More details as they become available.

Forget every comparison you’ve heard. Zhou Kehua, the serial killer gunned down by police on Tuesday morning, is American gangster John Dillinger (most famously portrayed by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies).

As uncovered by someone researching the case (disclaimer: these details are all yet unverified), Zhou had two movie tickets in his pocket when he was ambushed by plainclothes police officers. Setting aside the possibility that Zhou killed himself, which would spoil the comparison, you’ll recall that Dillinger was purported to have been gunned down by plainclothes officers outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. One of the tickets was for The Silent War on the 12th, a movie about undercover CPC agents trying to infiltrate Kuomintang urban strongholds in the 1950s. (UPDATE, 7:06 pm: I see that China Daily also reported the two movies were The Silent War and science-fiction action film Lockout.)

Zhou had his very own blackbird, too, who is currently under police custody. Knowing nothing else about her, we can only assume she’s half-French and beautiful, like Dillinger’s girlfriend. (UPDATE, 7:06 pm: Picture of her.)

Zhou’s first gun was one he stole in Chongqing, which in an askew way reminds of Dillinger’s ploy to smuggle guns into prison. And apparently the weapon that was found on Zhou’s dead body was from Burma, leading authorities to believe he served as a mercenary in that country. Indiana, where Dillinger was imprisoned, is kind of like Burma in its isolation and relative backwardness, so that comparison is a definite check.

While we’re on the subject, there’s this, from a fascinating Global Times write-up:

“Shut the doors quickly, here comes Zhou Kehua.”

Apparently that’s what one vegetable vendor rushed inside and shouted when she heard “firecrackers” nearby that were gunshots.

The killer was spotted by plainclothes police Zhou Jin and Wang Xiaoyu as he was making a phone call at 6:40 am near Tongjiaqiao and was then followed.

“We were not 100 percent sure it was Zhou Kehua as he didn’t use a cellphone according to the information in our possession,” Zhou Jin told reporters afterwards.

Zhou Kehua suddenly turned around toward the two policemen and muttered something to himself when they followed him into an alley, said Zhou Jin.

“We were ready to draw our guns after sensing danger, then Zhou Kehua began to shoot at us,” said Zhou Jin, adding that he hid himself behind a power pole and Wang stood against a wall.

Zhou Kehua fired three shots toward them, causing no injuries, and the two officers let off two rounds each to “annihilate him.”

Annihilate him. The wording comes straight from an aspiring screenplay writer. The bullet passes through his cheek as our antihero crashes to the pavement, his eyes diluted with a meaning he tries to grasp but cannot as his life — his crimes, his passion, his love — leaks out of his body and into cracks which are filling with blood…

Obviously the part would be played by Jackie Chan.

Zhou Kehua, Public Enemy No. 1

Graphic picture here.

Xinhua News Agency is reporting that the manhunt for serial killer Zhou Kehua, 42, involved in a murder/robbery on Friday morning, is over. Zhou was shot and killed by police in Chongqing’s Shapingba District this morning. Classified as a “class-A” wanted suspect, he had racked up 5.4 million yuan’s worth of bounty on his head over the years.

There are two embedded videos after the jump: the breaking news report of his death, and the scene of his death. There were, as you might expect, dozens of people milling about, with cops waving people forward. We’re sure more videos will surface shortly. UPDATE, 11:32 am: Pictures of his dead body, too. UPDATE, 8/16, 3:18 pm: He is John Dillinger.

China.org, with research by China Daily, has put together this timeline of Zhou’s killings since 2004:

Since 2004, Zhou Kehua is suspected of being involved in a series of robberies and shootings.

April 22, 2004

One woman was shot dead and another woman injured in a bank robbery in Jiangbei district, in Southwest China’s Chongqing. The suspect took 70,000 yuan ($11,005).

May 16, 2005

Two suspects shot and robbed a couple near a bank in Shapingba district in Chongqing. A passer-by was also shot. The couple died. The suspects made off with 170,000 yuan.

March 19, 2009

A People’s Liberation Army soldier standing guard outside a garrison in Chongqing was shot dead. The victim, identified as 18-year-old Han Junliang, was shot twice in the chest with a pistol. The suspect took the garrison guard’s submachine gun and ran.

Oct 14, 2009

A 56-year-old farmer was shot dead in a park in Tianxin district of Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan province. The suspect used a homemade gun.

Dec 4, 2009

A 41-year-old man was shot dead outside a bank in Tianxin district of Changsha. The victim had withdrawn cash and was walking to his car when the suspect shot him in the head. The suspect took 45,000 yuan from the man.

Oct 25, 2010

A trading company owner was shot dead in Yuhua district of Changsha.

June 28, 2011

A 48-year-old businessman was shot in the head and stomach as he got out of his car near a construction site in Tianxin district of Changsha. The man was taken to a hospital and survived.

Jan 6

A 42-year-old man was shot in a robbery in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. He was robbed shortly after he withdrew 200,000 yuan from a bank in the Xiaguan district. The suspect fled the scene by jumping into a vehicle. The victim died in a hospital.

Via Xinhua:

Earlier today, a man in Chongqing shot dead one person and injured two others in an attempted robbery outside a Bank of China. Police are still looking for the man, but they’ve identified him as a repeat felony offender who’s somehow still at large. According to Sina:

Police have launched a manhunt for the suspect and offer 500,000 yuan as a reward. The suspect, Zhou Kehua, is reported to be a hardened criminal, who has killed or injured several people in Jiangsu, Hunan and Chongqing province since 2004.

What is disturbing is that Zhou is still on the run.

Disturbing indeed. Here are some more disturbing images from this morning:

Via Chongqing Daily News, you see Zhou pointing his gun at a man and woman — a couple — before firing. The woman died instantly, while the man suffered a life-threatening neck injury.

We’re informed that the man only took a purse off the woman.

(H/T Alicia)

A gunman in Chongqing opened fire in front of Bank of China at 9:37 this morning, leaving one dead and two injured. China News Service reports that it was an armed robbery at Shapingba District, on the intersection between Fengmingshan and Kangjuyuan. The picture above, via ifeng, was taken moments after the gunman fled; the man in the picture suffered neck wounds and is in grave condition at a nearby hospital.

The gunman remains at large. After the jump, more pictures, plus videos of the aftermath. Updates as they come in.

UPDATE, 6:56 pm: We now have the suspect’s mug shot; authorities have offered a 500,000 yuan reward for his capture.