Two suspected criminals believed killed in shoot-out with police Special Task Force

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Police cordon off the area to prevent anyone from entering.

PENAMPANG: Two suspected criminals are believed killed in a shoot-out with police from the Special Task Force, near Servay Hypermarket at Penampang New Township afternoon yesterday.

It is believed the suspects were inside a four-wheel-drive vehicle when they were shot dead around 4pm.

A woman who was travelling with the suspects and seated at the rear of the vehicle, has been arrested following the incident.

Police remained tight-lipped over the incident while business operators and the public were asked to close their business earlier and move out from the area some two-blocks away from the scene.

A plainclothes policeman running with a weapon after the incident.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Rahman when contacted said he would disclose the details of the incident in a press conference today.

“Exercise ada juga … disamping operasi memburu penjenayah. Esok saya jelaskan…(Exercise also have … and also an operation to hunt criminals, I will explain tomorrow (Friday),” said Jalaluddin when asked if the incident was an emergency drill.

However, various accounts of the incidents have emerged as witnesses gave their versions of what transpired.

Social media such as Facebook and Whatsapp were also overloaded with different version, some claiming the shoot-out out was due to gangsterism while others claimed police had been tailing the suspects before the incident happened.

Shop operators also claimed to have seen a four-wheel drive vehicle with policemen cutting into the front of the suspect’s vehicle before gunshots were heard.

Some witnesses claimed they were two dead bodies inside the vehicle while others said that they saw three people running out of the suspect’s vehicle.

The whole scene looks like the American TV series ‘Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)’ when forensic team arrived while policemen continued to order the public to stay away from the scene and refrain them from taking any photos.

However, news of the incident and photos have already gone viral in social media as many people were around the scene when it happened.

Reporters as well as photographers carrying out their duties outside the police cordon line were also ordered not to take any photos while some photographers had their cameras taken away and pictures deleted.