KLANG: The gunman who was on the run after the Feb 8 shooting at a Setia Alam mall, but killed in a shootout with police in Pulau Ketam here this morning, was planning to flee by boat to a neighbouring country.
The police ambush may have come in the nick of time as a restaurant operator in Pulau Ketam divulged the gunman’s plan as he enquired about boat trips to Thailand after arriving in the island yesterday (Feb 17) evening.
He said the gunman casually spoke about meeting up with his wife and child in Thailand.
“While buying food, the suspect informed that he had to choose a passage by sea because he could not fly there since his passport has been blacklisted.
“He said he wanted to see his wife and child because he missed them, maybe it has been a long separation,“ said the restaurant operator who preferred anonymity when met by media at the hotel in Pulau Ketam where the pre-dawn shootout took place here today.
Earlier, Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan confirmed that the gunman, who was in his 30s, was shot dead at about 3am today in a raid by teams from the Bukit Aman and Selangor Criminal Investigation Departments after tracking down the suspect since the shooting at the Berkenan shopping mall on the night of Feb 8.
The man known as ‘Ah Boy’ committed five more crimes after the mall shooting in Shah Alam before fleeing to Pulau Ketam, an island which is a 30-minute boat ride off Port Klang.
Meanwhile, a hotel worker known only as Cha, 33, said the suspect checked into a hotel located near the jetty at 5.15 pm yesterday wearing a hat and carrying a small plastic bag for luggage.
He said the gunman appeared nonchalant and aroused no suspicion as he was leisurely checking into a ground floor room of the two-storey hotel.
“During the raid at around 3am, I was shocked after being jolted by noise of a commotion and several gunshots on the ground floor of the hotel,“ he said.
Cha said he and 12 guests were in the dark about the police ambush unfolding before being ordered out of their hotel rooms.
He said the situation returned to normal in the hotel after police completed initial investigations and took the suspect’s body away from the scene about six hours later.
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