Shooting incident victim dies

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KUCHING: The 31-year-old man who was shot in the head by a suspected hired gunman at a coffee shop in Green Heights on Thursday morning succumbed to his injuries yesterday.

The victim, surnamed Ang, died at Sarawak General Hospital at 8.45am without regaining consciousness.

Following his death, police have re-classified the incident from attempted murder to murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

When met by reporters yesterday, state police commissioner Dato Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said police were still trying to establish the motive behind the killing, and have not obtained any new leads thus far.

He urged the public not to speculate – especially in a negative manner – on the shooting incident as it could lead to ‘wrong assumptions on the safety situation’ in the state.

When asked if the killing was in any way related to the murder of businessman Lau Leh Hing in Sibu in January, Acryl said: “We have yet to establish if there is a link between the two murders, but we are investigating all possible angles.”

Lau was gunned down while walking to a shop in Brooke Drive in Sibu by a man armed with a shotgun who then escaped with two others in a car.

Ang was struck in the left side of his head by pellets from a single shot fired from a shotgun, with the killer fleeing immediately with an accomplice on a motorcycle.

A 69-year-old clerk who was several metres away from Ang at the same coffee shop was struck in the arm and stomach by the pellets, but survived. He is said to be in a stable condition.