KLANG — The gunman in the Feb 8 shooting at a Setia Alam mall who was later shot by police, had plans to flee to Thailand, a witness said.
A restaurant operator in Pulau Ketam, where the gunman was killed, said he tipped off police about the man’s enquiries regarding boat trips to the northern country after he arrived on the island yesterday evening.
The restauranteur, who requested anonymity, said the gunman had spoken casually 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,” the restaurant operator said when met at the hotel on Pulau Ketam where the police shootout took place.
The gunman, in his 30s, was killed in the shootout in the early hours of this morning.
Earlier, Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan confirmed that the gunman, was shot dead at about 3am today in a raid by teams from the Bukit Aman and Selangor Criminal Investigation Departments which tracked him down following 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 30 minutes by boat 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. – February 18, 2025