Police say they are searching for a man who fatally shot a soldier after fleeing a bookstore he had robbed at about 2 p.m. in Phnom Penh on Sunday afternoon.
The suspect was attempting to escape from a group of villagers chasing him when he entered the Borey Vogo housing complex in Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune, according to Sot Sat, Choam Chao village chief.
“The borey’s guards tried to follow him in order to get him to leave the borey,” he said.
As a chase ensued, the victim appeared “in his military uniform and then the robber saw him and shot him, and he died immediately,” Mr. Sat said.
After the shooting, the suspected thief continued running through the complex until he reached a forest, where officers believed he was hiding, according to commune police chief Then Kosal.
“We are now surrounding the forest that he ran into and is hiding in,” he said at about 6 p.m. District judicial police chief Chea Sovann said police were inspecting security footage from the bookstore to help identify the suspect, whom police believe to be Chinese.
