Police in Malaysia are looking for the suspect in a shooting at a mall in Setia Alam – a rare incident of gun violence in a country with strict firearm laws.
An employee at the mall sustained injuries after a man opened fire at about 10.50pm (local time) on Saturday, police said.
Selangor state police said the suspect fired four shots at the janitor after entering the shopping mall in Setia Alam, located about 34km from capital Kuala Lumpur. The suspect escaped to another floor where he continued firing additional shots, the police added.
The gunman has been identified as a man in his 30s and a repeat offender with a history of 11 criminal acts, police said.
“We are in the midst of tracking him down. The motive for the attack is still under investigation,” Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan told reporters.
Police said the suspect shattered a glass stairwell window along with a sliding door before escaping into the car park. He then vanished into the dark after hijacking a car at gunpoint.
“A mall patron was hailed down by the suspect but he kept on driving. The suspect then fired a shot that hit the car,” Mr Hussein said.
He said the suspect forced the driver to get him out of the mall and then instructed the driver "to drop him off near the Pandamaran exit of the Kesas Expressway".
The police recovered more than 10 bullet casings from various areas of the mall and the car park as video from the shooting showed terrified shoppers scrambling for cover.
A 20-year-old employee told the New Straits Times that she was handing out perfume samples to customers when she suddenly heard two loud bangs about 40m away from her workplace.
"At that moment, I had no idea what the sound was. When I looked towards the door leading to the staircase, I saw two cleaning staff members in distress," the eyewitness said.
By the third gunshot, people began rushing out and running in all directions leaving their belongings behind, she added.
Malaysia's home minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on Sunday reassured the public that national security and public order remain the top priorities in the wake of the shooting. "There is no need for public panic," he said.
“The swift response by the police reflects their competence and any shortcomings in their capabilities could have led to a different outcome,” he said in a press conference.
Last month, a 40-year-old man was fatally shot as he was eating lunch at a restaurant Last month in Johor Bahru.
