KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian capital is still safe despite two fatal shootings in Kuala Lumpur over four days, said the city’s police chief Rusdi Isa.
He assured the public that the recent shootings in Cheras and Brickfields should not be used as evidence to suggest unsafe conditions in Kuala Lumpur.
“These shooting cases are all the result of problems that occurred outside the Kuala Lumpur contingent, and were brought here,” Rusdi said in a statement on Tuesday (Jun 17) afternoon, as cited in local news platform Berita Harian.
He added that the motives for both cases involved internal feuds between the suspects and the victims and that the two cases are also unlikely to be related.
The police chief said that the Cheras case is believed to involve criminal business from Sarawak, while the Brickfields case is reported to be related to a gang feud in neighbouring Selangor state, just outside of the capital city.
“In the shooting case in Cheras … the two victims had just arrived from Sibu, Sarawak, and came to (Kuala Lumpur) on personal business,” he said.
He added that both the victims had criminal records and were suspected to be involved in smuggling activities in Sarawak as well as a murder.
Rusdi said that there is a possibility that the victims were shadowed by criminal rivals or disgruntled individuals who were biding their time before the opportunity arose for the attack.
In an earlier statement on Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur police also confirmed that the Cheras shooting had occurred outside the Viva Home mall, along Jalan Loke Yew.
Rusdi said that the Brickfields case held similarities with the case in Cheras.
“This case involves (criminal) problems in Selangor, and … the enemies were also looking for an opportune moment to shoot the victim dead while he was at a restaurant on Jalan Tun Sambanthan.”
Although the cases involved external states outside of the jurisdiction of Kuala Lumpur, Rusdi reaffirmed the Kuala Lumpur police’s commitment to continue collaborating with the Criminal Investigation Department and the Royal Malaysia Police to apprehend the perpetrators of both cases and bring them to justice.
He also urged the public to continue to share any information to help combat criminal activity and “any conduct that could harm public safety and order”.
“Your safety and public order are always our top priorities as Kuala Lumpur Police,” he said in the statement, as quoted by Berita Harian.
The Kuala Lumpur police will mobilise all elements to identify the suspects involved in the Cheras case, and both the Cheras and Brickfields cases are currently still being investigated under Section 302 of the penal code for murder, he added.
At around 12.15am on Tuesday, a group of assailants wearing ski masks gunned down two men outside the Viva Home shopping mall in Cheras before fleeing in a Perodua Alza car.
The victims, both in their 40s, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have classified the shooting as murder.
Just four days before, an attack in Brickfields left one dead and two injured, as two gunmen attacked a group of seven diners at a restaurant on Jalan Tun Sambanthan.
Concerns of public safety have grown following these two cases of fatal shootings occurring in public areas.
In a report by the New Straits Times, criminologist Shahul Hamid Abd Rahim said that these criminals have grown increasingly bold when it came to their attacks, showing a blatant disregard for time and place.
“I do not rule out the possibility that these incidents are linked to disputes, drug trafficking activities, or gang-related revenge,” he said.
But he pointed out that the issue lies in the ease of obtaining unlicensed firearms, whether via smuggling from neighbouring countries or through mutual buying and selling from other criminals who had previously owned the guns.
