Indonesia police: Stadium exit gates too small for escape
September 14, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR (AP) — As the clock ticked toward dawn Saturday, two men wearing police uniforms and carrying assault rifles made their way from the main body of the Kota Tinggi Stadium, one carrying a black briefcase and the other a handgun on their chests.
One of the assault-rifle-bearing men slipped into the crowded main court building, where he opened fire on his former colleagues, killing two and wounding two. Police later found him dead, and a third man, also in police uniform, was captured and arrested after he tried to flee from police.
The shootings, two days before the nation’s holiday marking independence day, were part of a rash of shootings in which security forces have come under fire while chasing or attempting to chase away suspects trying to flee a police battle zone or from the battlefield of an ongoing struggle.
Officials had said it would be “very difficult” for the men to escape. But that proved to be a false promise. More than 30 minutes after the gunman entered the city’s main court building, a police helicopter dropped leaflets over the building, asking for the public’s help in finding him.
It was clear the man believed he had a clear run, but there had been no other police officers nearby before the helicopter’s warnings. It was not until later that police found him dead from a single blast to the chest.
Police said the man had been targeted because he was a former police chief, who went on a shooting spree last month.
“It’s as simple as that. Police should be better equipped to handle this kind of situation,” said Indera Hidayat, chairwoman of the Pemancha Malaysia Party, an anti-government party in the country’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur.
The shootings, coming as Malaysia’s most populous city was celebrating a 40th
