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.
