Two suspected robbers were shot dead and a member of the elite Flying Tigers motorcycle police unit was injured in a gun battle Friday morning in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district, police said.
The shooting followed the high-speed pursuit of two men in their 20s along Charles de Gaulle Boulevard. The suspected thieves opened fire when Prampi Makara district police officers ordered them to halt their motorcycle.
Police surrounded the suspects on Street 186 in Tuol Kok district, Sao Mary, Prampi Makara district penal police chief, said Friday. Both men then opened fire with their K 54 handguns, she said. They were eventually shot and killed by return fire from police.
“They shot at us when we were just calling them to stop and then they shot at us until their bullets ran out,” she said.
One of the slain men was identified as Srey Chanthy, Sao Mary said. The identity of the second man was not immediately known.
The officer injured in the fire fight, Chea Kim Hour, 34, is being treated for a gun shot wound to his left leg, police said.
“They are old time robbers,” said Hun Song, Tuol Kok’s deputy district police chief. The two were not amateurs, but were experienced armed robbers, he added.
“We conclude that they were just released from prison,” Hun Song said.
Officers interviewed on Friday said the two slain suspects were not linked to Wednesday evening’s shooting that killed a Flying Tiger police officer on the busy waterfront Sisowath Quay. Two suspects shot the officer in the head before escaping on foot with their victim’s AK 47 rifle.
