Number of premises hit by Sabah shooting spree increases

KOTA KINABALU: The number of premises in the city and nearby Penampang damaged in a shooting spree over the weekend has increased to 46 as owners carry out temporary repairs on the shattered glass panes.

City police chief Asst Comm Jauteh Dikun said on Monday, they had identified 13 more premises in the city that were shot at by six men in three groups between midnight on Friday and 1am on Saturday.

He said the figure brought to 38 the number of shops, banks, hotels and offices around downtown Kota Kinabalu, Luyang, Damai and Inanam that were  damaged in the incident.

Meanwhile, Penampang police chief Deputy Supt Ratan Kumar Singh said they had received two more reports from owners of premises that had been shot at bringing the total number of places damaged to eight.

He said the latest was a supermarket and a car show room along the Jalan Bundusan area.

Jauteh said police were continuing their investigations and had no arrests had been made as yet.

On closed circuit television (CCTV) footages purportedly of some of the individuals involved in the shooting that were circulated in social media as well as the WhatsApp messenger service, he said the images were actually from a robbery incident in the peninsula.

He said the robbery had occurred as the shooting spree broke out here and thus the time stamp on the images showed “correct” time and date.   

Moreover, police have ascertained that the incident here was a drive-by shooting as the perpetrators had not emerged from the two four wheel drive vehicles and a saloon car they had used.

“We are urging the public to disregard rumours including those being circulated on social media,” Jauteh added.

State police have set up a special task force to probe the incident and were combing through the various CCTV footages from the various affected premises.

A check at the many of the premises showed that the shattered glass panes had been replaced with plywood sheets.