A US pastor who survived what he described as an assassination attempt on Wednesday evening was residing at a Phnom Penh hotel on Thursday under the protection of officials from the Ministry of Defense, he said by telephone.
Bruce McKee, of Dallas, Texas, sustained a bullet wound to the ear when an unidentified gunman shot at him several times while he sat in his Toyota Land Cruiser outside his home on Street 95.
“Good friends in the military brought me here,” McKee said from his hotel, which he did not name. “They’re protecting me.”
He declined to name the RCAF officials in question, or to say on the record what might have motivated an attempt on his life. But he added that police do have a suspect.
“It’s a mess. It’s a nightmare for me,” he said. “The way the police are talking, this guy really wanted to kill me.”
He added that he did not want to leave Cambodia in the wake of the attack. “I love the people…. I don’t want to run away,” he said.
According to a police report obtained Thursday, McKee’s assailant fired four shots at 8:20 pm.
“We are investigating but the victim has not given us a detailed report yet because he is still suffering,” said Hy Pru, deputy municipal police commissioner in charge of security.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said he could not comment on a specific case, but added: “We don’t consider Cambodia to be some kind of high threat area.”
(Additional reporting by Pin Sisovann)
