Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - A 34-year-old man with a previous conviction for armed robbery, who barged into a house in Kampung Baru here and took a 10-year-old girl hostage on Monday, was shot by the police and died later in hospital.
The girl was unharmed.
Relating the ordeal, the girl's father, Shafrudin Marlis, 47, said that he, his wife and three children were watching television about 11am, when a half-naked man stormed into their home at Lorong Raja Muda Musa 6 and grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
"It was only a matter of seconds before he grabbed my daughter Fifi Ramadani and threatened to kill her if we approached him," he said, when met at the house Monday after the girl had been rescued by police and the man arrested.
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said that when police arrived at the scene moments after receiving a distress call, the man had locked himself in a room in the house and taken the girl hostage.
"He demanded for drugs and water. We gave him water and also called in a psychiatric specialist from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) to talk to the man and assess his condition," he told reporters.
He said that police also brought in one of the suspect's friends to try to coax him to release the girl.
"But all our attempts failed. We then had to shoot the suspect after he became more aggressive. We fired four shots, which hit him in the rib area," ACP Zulkarnain said.
The girl was brought out safely about 4.10pm. She was unhurt but taken in an ambulance to Hospital Kuala Lumpur as she was in shock.
The man was brought out on a stretcher about 10 minutes later.
ACP Zulkarnain said the man was also taken to HKL for treatment. He succumbed to his injuries Monday evening.
As soon as the man was taken away in an ambulance, residents who had gathered at the scene cheered the police and the psychiatrist for their success in saving the girl.
He added that initial investigations showed that the man was from Sabah.
