GEORGE TOWN, Aug 20 — The families of the five men who were shot dead by the police in a pre-dawn ambush yesterday are demanding for an inquest into the men’s deaths.

The family members had lodged police reports yesterday demanding to know the reasons why the men were shot dead when they could be detained for investigations.

Lawyer RSN Rayer, who is providing legal counsel to the families, said the family members want to know why the police shot dead all five men without first attempting to arrest them.

The Seri Delima state assemblyman wants Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to provide more evidence to prove that the five men did have “underworld links” and “were involved in the recent spate of shootings”.

”What puzzles me is that why didn’t the police fire a warning shot before they move in and shoot all five of them dead,” he said.

Rayer had assisted the family members in claiming the bodies of the five men — J. Gobinath, R. Ramesh, A. Vinuvt, M. Suresh and M. Gobinath — at the mortuary last night.

”I also arranged for them to meet with the pathologist Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh to find out how each of them died,” he said in a telephone interview today.

The autopsies had revealed that the five men died from two to six gunshot wounds, most of which were to the head, chest, neck and face.

”The police could have shot their legs if they need to shoot and then arrest them, there is no reason for the police to shoot to kill which is obvious from the gunshot wounds,” Rayer said.

Yesterday, at 4.30am, the police shot dead the five men in an ambush at an apartment unit on the 11th floor of a service apartment in Sungai Nibong.

Khalid had linked the five men to 10 murder cases and two attempted murder cases in three different states- Penang, Kedah and Negeri Sembilan.

The police also recovered three pistols and a few rounds of ammunition from the apartment unit.

Rayer issued a press statement today asking the police their reasons for immediately opening fire when they had already ambushed the apartment unit in the wee hours of the morning when all five men were likely still sleeping.

”The routine practice of showing firearms in a press conference and making allegations that the police acted in self defense are too stale to be true,” he said.

He also pointed out that one of the five men was shot more than once to the head while the rest had fatal gunshot wounds and could not possibly survive the shooting.

”The men were in the 11th  floor of the apartment and definitely could not have escaped anywhere so it baffles me as to why the police shot them in the head, chest, face and neck instead of their legs or hands,” he said. ”Is the police chief saying that the police force is not professionally trained to effect the arrest of five men in the 11th storey of an apartment other than shooting them dead?” Rayer demanded to know.

Rayer will be representing the families to demand for an inquest into the men’s deaths and whether it was necessary for all five to be shot dead.