A doctor with the hospital, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday that it is a penetrating gunshot injury, and there is a hole on each side of Wen's head.

The incident terrified many of the residents of the neighborhood.

"I was watching TV and heard someone break glass at first. I thought there was a fight going on and didn't pay attention to that. Later, I heard some shots. I thought it was someone setting off fireworks," said a neighbor, who only gave his surname as Huang, on Sunday.

Huang's home is only 70 meters away from the site of the showdown.

A few minutes later, it dawned on Huang that the thudding sound was a shoot-out going on outside his home. "All five members of my family got on the ground immediately and didn't dare move. We stayed this way for about an hour until we didn't hear any sounds," he said.

The site of Jiang's small cottage told the story of the night's dramatic events. All the windows of Jiang's house were broken. Half of the roof tiles had been jarred loose and were scattered across the ground amid blood-spattered fragments of glass.

"The police also threw about five grenades. And I can't count how many pistol sounds I heard. It lasted about one hour," said Xing Peng, who lives in the building opposite Jiang's home.

A teenager who lives next to Jiang's house, who asked not to be named, contends they were not grenades but tear gas canisters. Police would not verify the information.

Xing said Jiang's body was carried out at around 11:30 pm. "Nearly 1,000 people surrounded the scene at that time. We all heaved a sigh of relief that the policed took him down successfully. "

When the last group of police officers went out of Jiang's home, the surrounding crowd applauded to express their gratitude, Xing said.

Neighbors said Jiang was divorced and used to live with his mother until she passed away years ago. "It's really a pity. We never thought one of our neighbors would be a robber," Huang said.

Local media reported that the victim Wen makes a living by selling pork.

Jiang followed Wen as he was walking into the entry to his home. His wife avoided the tragedy because she was shopping at the time.

Zhang Yan in Beijing contributed to this story.