Setia Alam mall shooting suspect shot dead in raid: Malaysia police
The Selangor police chief confirmed that the suspect, who allegedly fired shots at a mall cleaner, had died in a hotel room shootout.
SELANGOR: The suspect in a Malaysian shopping mall shooting incident has been killed in a police shootout following a 10-day manhunt.
Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said the man, who is allegedly linked to the recent attack at Setia Alam mall was tracked down in a joint operation by the Bukit Aman and Selangor Criminal Investigation Departments at around 3am on Tuesday (Feb 18), local news agency Bernama reported.
“A shootout occurred inside a hotel room and the suspect was shot dead,” Hussein said in a statement, as quoted by Bernama.
In his statement, Hussein also said that two loaded firearms were found in the suspect's possession during the raid at a hotel in Pulau Ketam in Klang on Tuesday morning.
It is still unclear if the suspect was hiding out on Pulau Ketam or if he planned to escape the country via the island, according to local media.
The suspect, who had nine prior criminal records, including one for a drug-related offence and seven for robbery, had been hiding at the hotel for the past two days, said Hussein on Tuesday.
Earlier, the police identified the suspect involved as a local man in his 30s.
On Feb 8, the man had allegedly fired shots at a cleaner at Setia City Mall, located in Selangor about a 40-minute drive out of Kuala Lumpur. The suspect then fled by boarding a family’s vehicle and held them for 45 minutes in his escape bid.
The suspect had fired four shots at a cleaner when he entered the shopping mall, injuring the worker’s legs and buttocks before escaping to another floor where he continued firing additional shots, Selangor police earlier said.
He had allegedly attacked the cleaner because he was angry after being told to shift his items in the mall, according to a preliminary police investigation.
The suspect then fled the scene, went to the parking zone and forced a mall visitor at gunpoint to drive him out of the area for about 45 minutes. He ordered the driver to drop him off by the roadside near the Shah Alam Expressway before the driver lodged a police report.
Selangor police officers recovered more than 10 bullet casings from various areas in the mall including stairwells and parking areas.
Social media was abuzz with reports of the shooting, with pictures and eyewitness videos taken from inside the mall circulating widely on social media.
Following the shooting incident, various police units were said to be tracking the suspect’s whereabouts, with police in neighbouring states and border authorities also told to “stay alert”, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain told local media on Feb 9.
The Malaysian authorities had also tightened security measures in shopping malls and other public places nationwide, Razarudin added.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has urged for calm and said that there was no need for concern over the recent incident.
“There is no need for (the) public (to) panic, as PDRM has demonstrated a high level of preparedness. The swift response by the police reflects their competence and any shortcomings in their capabilities could have led to a different outcome,” he said on Feb 10, referring to the Malay acronym of the Royal Malaysia Police.
The case is being investigated under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 and Section 307 of the Penal Code, Bernama earlier reported.
