Eyewitness: Cops shot unarmed man point blank

Two eyewitnesses of a police shootout in Ampang last week have claimed that plainclothes personnel shot an unarmed man "point blank" and released at least 10 rounds of ammunition indiscriminately. 

Entrepreneur D Dinesh, 26, who died two days after he was shot in the wee hours of Aug 21, was not carrying anything when he gotout of a white Proton Perdana, said his friend Y Ilavarasen, 24(right).

He said the Proton had been blocked by an unmarked car at a traffic light near Ampang Waterfront. 

"I was a few cars ahead of him and could see him from the back. He wasn't holding anything, Ilavarasen told a press conference called by PKR today. 

"(Police) were shooting point blank, up and down. Everyone panicked. The shooting was haywire and there was no warning, neither did they identify themselves as police. They just started shooting, pointing towards people and cars.”

Ilavarasen said he had seen the Proton behind him after he sped off, and thought that Dinesh had escaped unscathed. 

“When I pulled to the side of the car, I notice that he was not the one driving, but another person. The driver told me Dinesh had been shot. I found out from his cousin that he was taken to Ampang Hospital,” he said. 

The second eyewitness and another friend, K Moses, 23, (left)had stopped at the traffic lights two cars behind the Proton. He said Dinesh was “running back” to his car when he was shot. 

“Then I saw beside my car (that) a guy was shooting. I didn't know who he was. He shot everyone, whatever that was moving,” he said. 

“I sped off, but one bullet hit my car. I was lucky it didn't hit the side window. The way he was shooting, it looked like he wanted to kill people. He didn't stop. I heard more than 10 shots. (One bullet hit) a taxi.. If I knew they were police, I would not have left.”

Asked if he would be able to recognise the officer who released the shots, he said: “Yes.” 

Ilavarasen, who works in logistics and Moses who works at a car dealership, were driving separate cars and were planning to have supper with Dinesh in the area, after receiving a call from him.

“We had not decided where to go. Just to meet around Ampang, maybe go to Pandan, to Steven's Corner, but on the way there, we saw Dinesh's car so we just followed him,” Ilvarasen said. 

He did not know if Dinesh's car was part of a 14-car convoy - as the police have claimed - as the supper plan only involved Dinesh, Moses and himself. 

Police report lodged

The duo lodged police reports today at the Tropicana police station with their respective accounts of the incident. 

They were accompanied by PKR MPs for Subang and Kapar, Sivarasa Rasiah and S Manickvasagam, PKR vice-president N Surendran and PKR supreme council bureau member Latheefa Koya.

Ilavarasen’s account refutes that of the police, who had said the Proton had tried to back into police patrol cars. 

"After that, four men carrying parangs got out of the car and smashed the patrol cars," Ampang Jaya deputy police chief Md Nazri Zawawi was reported as saying in Malay daily Kosmo!.

Police also claimed that the Proton had been intercepted as it was part of a 14-car convoy which was on the way to resume a gang fight which had taken place at the Pandan Perdana flats.

Harian Metro quoted Md Nazri as saying that the Dinesh was part of the ‘Viva Nanda’ gang which is suspected to be involved with loan shark syndicates. 

He said police were on the hunt for the gang members after the gang fight was reported to have left three injured. 

Dinesh's father W Darmasena has lodged a police report to seek an investigation into the death of his son.