Zhou Kehua killed by Chinese police forces

Zhou Kehua, China's most dangerous man and a notorious serial killer, was killed by police in a leather factory in Chongqing on Tuesday.

According to Al Jazeera, Zhou was responsible for nine deaths across several provinces before a massive manhunt led to him being gunned down on Tuesday morning.

Zhou had been described by police as “ruthless and highly dangerous,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhou was wanted in connection to multiple crimes dating to back 2004 and was the chief suspect in a fatal armed robbery in Chongqing on Friday. He also allegedly shot a police officer who tried to stop and question him over the weekend.

According to Business Insider, private fire arms are illegal in China, thus gun crime is relatively rare, which is why this case has received such a large amount of attention.  Chinese social network QQ has set up a page dedicated to Zhou's capture.  

"We have not seen this kind of cold-blooded killer in years," one police official told Xinhua news agency.

That's probably why Chongqing police dispatched thousands of people to follow Zhou in a city-wide manhunt, even offering a reward of 500,000 yuan ($78,000) to anyone with tipsleading leading to Zhou, dead or alive.  

The shooting led to more interest from Chinese netizens. A series of graphic images posted on state-run media showed Zhou lying face down next to a brick wall, with blood gushing from a wound in his head (warning: the images are disturbing).  

However, the WSJ pointed out that some social media users have questioned the police's handling of the evidence after a photo showing an unidentified man rifling through Zhou's belongings without gloves was published.