KOTA KINABALU, Jan 20 — Police here have shot dead a wanted man suspected of having been involved in a murder in Tawau on December 5, said Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib.

The unemployed 52-year-old man was shot in a house in Kampung Maang when he tried to attack a team of policemen with a samurai sword when they were apprehending him at about 10pm yesterday, he told reporters today.

“Based on a tip-off, the Penampang police chief and his team tailed the suspect to Kampung Maang, Penampang. When police identified themselves and tried to enter the house, the suspect set a mattress on fire and threw it at the police. 

“Later, armed with a samurai sword, he attacked our personnel. In self-defence, police fired four shots and killed the suspect on the spot,” he said. 

He said a post-mortem on the man would be conducted tomorrow.

Hamza said the suspect was seen entering a fast food restaurant in Penampang at about 3.30pm and when the police moved in to arrest him, he managed to flee in a car.  

“The suspect also knocked down one of our personnel and seriously injured him,” he said. 

On December 5 in Tawau, a 24-year-old man died after he suffered 80 per cent burns in a fire when he tried to stop the 52-year-old suspect from torching the house where he and his sister (the suspect’s wife) lived in Taman Semarak. — Bernama