A nineteen year old Chinese who has been sentenced to death for killing a police officer, has become a local hero for the September 2008 killing in Xiashuixi region of China. The police officer reportedly extorted money from villagers.

A 19-YEAR OLD boy in China has been made a local hero, thanks to his inglorious feat of killing a corrupt police officer. The murder trial has exposed the misuse of power and rampant corruption in China where the communist thumb-rule system allows officials to run their districts like personal kingdoms.

 
Officer Li Shiming was stabbed through the heart by a hired assassin, said sources. As per a local news agency, “only a few of the fellow villagers mourned” as the assassinated officer had been usurping land, extorting money and harassing people for years.
 

The incident took place in the Xiashuixi region of China. Here the villagers have made Li's teenage killer something of a local hero. More than 20,000 supporters have written a petition to the court to award him a lenient sentence.
 
"I didn't feel surprised at all when I heard Li Shiming was killed, because people wanted to kill him a long time ago," a villager was quoted by ABC News. She said that her husband was harassed for years by Li. "I wanted to kill Li myself, but I was too weak," she added. 
 
19-year-old Zhang Xuping has been sentenced to death for the September 2008 killing, his mother and lawyer said Wednesday. The sentence was quietly handed down last week and an appeal was filed this week, they said.
 
Zhang Xuping reportedly got 1,000 yuan by a villager, who wanted to kill the officer after being fed of facing harassment for years.