Malaysian police kill Indonesian armed robbery suspect in shootout

May 24, 2009, 2:16 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police shot dead an Indonesian robber armed with stolen firearms after he held a family hostage for more than 13 hours, news reports said Sunday.

The 27-year old suspect, armed with weapons stolen from a police volunteer corps unit nearby, had allegedly broken into a home in the central Malacca state pre-dawn Saturday, the Star daily reported.

The suspect demanded 3,000 ringgit (857 dollars) after finding little cash and valuables and threatened to kill the family of five if he did not get the money by morning.

Alerted by a family friend who was asked to raise the money, a team of 20 policemen arrived at the scene but waited outside out of fear for the safety of the hostages.

Several hours later, using one of the victims as his shield, the suspect attempted to escape while firing several shots at the police but was killed when his hostage stumbled and fell, giving the police a clear shot at him.

State criminal investigation department chief Salehhudin Abdulah Rahman said police recovered a shotgun, an ammunition belt with 15 rounds, a machete and 3,200 ringgit (914 dollars) from the suspect.

Sallehudin added that the police were investigating to determine if the suspect was responsible for several other violent crimes in the district recently.