A police official said Tuesday that officers may not have intended to kill a 33-year-old man who they allegedly shot while he was riding a motorbike with two other men early Monday morning in Don Penh district.
Though he acknowledges his officers fired into the air as they chased the motorbike, Municipal Military Police Chief Chin Chanpor is disputing the sequence of events leading to the death of Khath Savoeun.
One of the other two men injured in the attack said Tuesday the three were struck from behind by a single bullet fired by pursuing officers, who were mistakenly identified in Monday’s press reports as Flying Tiger police forces.
But Chin Chanpor argued the men were shot from the front and even suggested the fatal bullet did not come from a municipal military police weapon.
The numbers on the shell casings found at the scene near Phsar Kandal market do not match the bullets used by municipal military police, Chin Chanpor said. He said he did not know who may have fired the shot.
Both the municipal military police and the municipal penal police are investigating.
The six officers involved in the incident remain detained by their supervisors but no warrants have been obtained yet for their arrests, Chin Chanpor said.
“Our [officers] should investigate first before we send all the documents to the municipal prosecutor,” Chin Chanpor said. He said he expected to have the investigation completed in a few days.
Khath Savoeun and Huy Sotheanin, 22, were passengers on a motorbike driven by Seng Poly, 24, who refused to stop when ordered by police on Sisowath Boulevard.
The three were afraid the police would rob them if they stopped, Huy Sotheanin said from Calmette Hospital, where he is recovering from a gunshot wound to his right shoulder. Seng Poly was also shot in the shoulder during the incident.
