A 29-year-old Chinese woman driving to work was shot five times and killed by two men on a busy Phnom Penh side street Tuesday morning, marking the second time in a week that someone has been gunned down publicly in the capital.
While the motive behind the killing remains unclear, the shooting represents what appears to be a growing trend in brash hits in Phnom Penh.
The victim in the shooting, identified by police as “Lucy,” worked as an administrator for the Yung Wah Industrial Cambodia Co Ltd factory in Takmao district, Kandal province. She was shot in Chamkar Mon district on Street 85 near Mao Tse-tung Boulevard at 6:30 am, Teak Kum, Chamkar Mon district penal police chief, said Tuesday. He gave no further details.
One factory official declined to further identify the woman.
The woman was heading to work when the gunmen, riding a motorbike, pulled in front of her vehicle to stop her, police said. Before dismounting, one shooter fired a bullet into the woman’s front windshield, smashing in the driver’s side window, and shot her five times.
The victim was hit in the head, neck, left shoulder, left hand and ribs, police said.
She died at the scene.
“We are investigating this case, but the suspects are darkness for the police,” said Reach Sokhum, chief of the Phnom Penh penal police. “We are cooperating with the victim’s relatives for more information, but now we can’t conclude if the case was a personal or business dispute or a love triangle.”
The body of the victim, which was being held at Calmette Hospital Tuesday evening, will be sent to mainland China, police said without elaborating.
A friend of the victim, who declined to be identified, said the woman had been living in Cambodia for three years and sometimes moonlighted as a singer.
On April 23, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Sok Sethamony was shot to death on a busy street corner while he was driving to work. His assailants pulled alongside Sok Sethamony’s car when he stopped at a traffic light and shot him four times.
“We are still investigating the case,” Phnom Penh Deputy Police Commissioner Heng Pov said Tuesday. He added that the authorities have arrested no one for the judge’s killing.
(Additional reporting by David Kihara)
