Beijing: For a country largely unaccustomed to gun violence, the fatal police shooting of an unarmed man in front of his elderly mother and three young children has captivated much of China for the past fortnight.

That the May 2 shooting, in the north-eastern town of Qing'an, happened in broad daylight at a crowded train station made it resonate even more. A smattering of mass knifings and home-made bomb attacks targeting train stations last year resulted in tightened security across China's major transport hubs – and in many police carrying firearms for the first time.

In this still image taken from cellphone video recorded on May 2 by a bystander, Xu Chunhe, left, struggles with policeman Li Lebin in a train station in Qing'an City. Credit:AP

In the prolonged absence of clarity and transparency, the death of Xu Chunhe, 45, prompted public outcry amid concerns that the policeman, Li Lebin, had used excessive force or had otherwise mismanaged a situation which led to an avoidable death.

Underlining an inherent distrust in the police and the country's state-controlled media, the authorities' immediate account of events – that Xu was behaving violently, tried to steal the officer's gun and even threw his young daughter to the ground in the process – was met with widespread disbelief. With each passing day, calls for police to release surveillance footage to substantiate its claims grew louder.