Four shootings over 26 hours in Malaysia

Four shootings over 26 hours in Malaysia

GEORGE TOWN - Even Hari Raya Aidilfitri provided no respite as the spate of shootings in the country continued with four more in Perak and Penang in a span of 26 hours.

Penang alone saw three incidents, leaving one dead and one wounded on Thursday and early yesterday.

The case in Ipoh occurred on Wednesday night, with one man wounded.

The 29-year-old was shot four times by one of two men on a motorcycle while driving in Taman Klebang Putra about 11.15pm. Two more shots had missed him.

Two other people in the car, believed to be the victim's relatives, escaped unharmed.

He is now in Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital's intensive care unit.

Two hours here later, more than 20 shots were fired at a bungalow in the affluent neighbourhood of Jesselton Heights here.

The shots hit the wall of the house as well as one of the front windows.

"We have looked at the closed-circuit television camera image at the house but the footage was blur and we could not identify the culprit. We only found the bullet casings in the compound of the property and also outside on the road.

"The shooting woke the family but no one was hurt," said a spokesman, adding that the owner was overseas.

He said the house owner had lodged a report recently that he found six live bullets in front of his house.

"The owner had received a text message ordering him to wire an undisclosed sum of money to a local bank account, but he refused and reported the threat to the police."

Ten hours after that, K. Veerapan, 37, was killed when two men on a motorcycle fired at least 14 shots at him while he was driving near Jalan Anson here.

Northeast police chief Assistant Commissioner Gan Kong Meng said Veerapan was hit 10 times at point-blank range.

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Veerapan, who had a previous record for drug-related offences, had been alone in the car, a BMW 5 Series belonging to a friend. "We will review the CCTV footage of the incident," said Gan.

At 1am yesterday, a club bouncer was hit in the left thigh when a gunman fired seven shots at him near the club in Jalan Datuk Keramat shopping complex.

Police said the bouncer was walking with some friends in an open car park near the club when the gunman shot him from some two cars away before speeding off on a motorcycle.

"The unidentified gunman had been hiding in the dark, waiting for the bouncer. The shots missed him, except for one that ricocheted off the ground and hit the victim's thigh," said a police spokesman.

He added that when the shooting began, the victim's friends ran for cover and got help from the club.

"Since no one got a good look at the gunman, we need the CCTV footage to help our investigations," he said, adding that a Perodua Myvi was also damaged in the shooting.

Sources said the bouncer had had many misunderstandings with customers at the club where he had been working for more than a year.

He was also said to have offended several people while breaking up fights at the establishment.

"Because he settled the disputes, we cannot rule out the possibility that revenge was the motive behind the shooting," he said, adding that the injured man was known by the nickname "Too Pek".

The spokesman said the bouncer was believed to have been a member of a secret society called "Geng 04", but was no longer active. In Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday, a taxi driver was wounded when a gun he had found accidentally went off.

City Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah said the taxi driver had dropped off passengers in front of a restaurant in Sri Hartamas at 7.30am.

"The driver found a backpack on the back seat, in which he found a gun. He told us that he was trying to open the magazine when the gun went off, causing the bullet to go through his left palm and hit the left thigh."

Ku said the 27-year-old driver had undergone surgery at the University Malaya Medical Centre and was in a stable condition.

"The driver said he believed the gun belonged to the two foreigners he had transported earlier that day as they had acted in a suspicious manner when a police patrol car passed."

Ku said a witness, who heard the shot, saw the driver place the gun on the dashboard before passing out. Additional reporting by Kanyakumari Damodaran

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