A policeman’s right wrist was severed when a man believed to be a foreign national attacked officers with two parangs at a residential unit in Desa Aman Puri, Kepong, on Wednesday (Nov 11). The man was later shot dead after he attacked police again as they tried to arrest him, police said.
Selangor police chief Datuk Shazeli Kahar said police received a report from a member of the public at about 4pm about a man who was believed to be in an unstable state and was running amok. A team of police officers was sent to the scene together with personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department and the Health Ministry to help bring the situation under control.
Shazeli said the man attacked them with two parangs when the door of the unit was opened. A 26-year-old lance corporal from the patrol car unit of the Gombak district police had his right wrist severed and also suffered injuries to his head and body, while several firefighters and Health Ministry personnel were slightly hurt.
The man fled after the attack but was found near a playground close to the apartment at about 8pm. Shazeli said the man attacked police with a parang again when they tried to arrest him, and officers fired several shots to defend themselves.
The shots wounded the man, and police tried to take him to hospital for treatment, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Selayang Hospital, Shazeli told a press conference at the hospital on Wednesday night.
The injured policeman was later transferred to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for surgery on his right hand. Police said he was in stable condition.
Although Desa Aman Puri carries a Kepong address, it lies in Selangor and falls under the Gombak district police, whose patrol officers responded to the call.
The incident went viral on social media. Police did not disclose the man’s identity.
Update: Doctors at Kuala Lumpur Hospital have successfully reattached the lance corporal’s severed right wrist in an operation lasting about eight hours, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad said on Thursday (Nov 12). The hospital’s neurosurgery team also treated his head injuries.
Update: Selangor police chief Datuk Shazeli Kahar said on Friday (Nov 13) that the foreign national who attacked the policeman was believed to have had a mental disorder, based on a report lodged by an acquaintance, and that police were still investigating what may have caused it. He said a post-mortem on the man was scheduled for that day, that the injured lance corporal was in a stable condition after surgery, and that no arrests had been made after statements were recorded from more than 20 witnesses.