Guard accidentally fires shot at bank

PETALING JAYA: A security guard accidentally fired a shot from his pump gun at a bank in George Town on Wednesday, raising more questions over the competency of security guards in the country.

Penang deputy police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan said the 53-year-old local was on duty behind a counter in the 11.30am incident.

He said the shot was fired towards the ground and no one was injured.

The man was arrested pending an investigation, but the episode was causing further jitters among the public, already shocked by the shooting of an Ambank officer on Oct 23.

Norazita Abu Talib was opening the door to a safe with a colleague in the bank when their security guard shot her in the face with a pump gun. The MyKad of the man who escaped with RM450,000 was found to be fake.

In the wake of the killing, some security firms have been busy vetting their guards, including checking their documents.

The director of a security company who wanted to be known only as Sheikh said he had been receiving calls from worried clients asking for their guards’ particulars.

MyWatch adviser S. Gobi Krishnan said the shooting had caused a lot of panic as “the people who have been trusted to protect us can possibly turn on us”.

“Nowadays when I am withdrawing money at the ATM with an armed guard, I am worried too,” he said.

According to Security Services Association of Malaysia president Datuk Shaheen Mirza Habib there is “a little sense of worry in the market” after the shooting incident.

He advised businesses and associations to make sure that the guards they hired were legitimate.

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