The family of the neurosurgeon who was shot dead by police in Guangzhou on Tuesday are demanding the southern city's public security bureau retract its public statement on the incident.

They do not believe the police version of events. Liu Benbao, the brother of Yin Fangming, the dead doctor, said the family also wants an impartial inquiry - fully independent of the police - into the shooting.

A statement from the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau said on Wednesday that the shooting occurred near the hospital where Yin worked in the Haizhu District at 4:55am.

It said a police officer from the bureau's Haizhu branch stopped to speak to the driver of a car that appeared suspicious because the rear and front license plates were covered with newspaper.

The driver "refused to answer questions and grabbed the officer's police identification card." The driver reversed his car and injured the officer's legs, the statement said.

The officer grabbed a door handle to stop the car, and was dragged along the road for several meters. The officer was forced to fire his pistol, and the driver was shot and injured, the statement said.

Truth sought

The driver was taken to Zhujiang Hospital, but died after emergency treatment, according to the statement.

Liu Benbao, Yin's younger brother who works as an accountant for a construction company in Hefei, said he arrived in Guangzhou with 10 other family members.

Yin was the third oldest son of five children in eastern Anhui Province and was later adopted by his father's uncle. He took the uncle's surname while his siblings kept the father's name of Liu.

Liu said: "We demand to know the truth, not one-sided information from the public security bureau.

"My brother's colleagues and leaders of the hospital have supported our request and they also want to know the truth."

Liu said the family has demanded a ballistic test and perhaps an autopsy.

"Whatever the conflict, the police should not have fired the gun," Liu said.

Wang Yalin, a prominent lawyer in Anhui, who was approached by the family said: "Judging from the information released so far, in this case, the shooting has aroused suspicions of an abuse of authority."

He demanded police allow full access to a key witness to the event and called for a fully independent inquiry.