PETALING JAYA, May 18 — A botched gold heist at the Atria Shopping Gallery here today saw two men shot dead and another injured from bullet wounds following a shootout with police.

The incident took place when a group of six dark skinned men, in dark jackets and full-faced helmets, arrived at the mall’s west ground-floor lobby at 5pm.

As soon as the robbers stormed the jewellery store, one of them armed with a hammer smashed the counters while his accomplices filled their loot into black bags.

Selangor CID Chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmat said the suspects ran into a police team who were deployed to the mall after a public tip off.

“A shootout ensued when after suspects opened fire the moment they realised police presence, forcing the officers to open fire in self defence,” he said.

Fadzil said the shootout ended several metres away from the west entrance.

“Two of the suspects were killed, while another was injured after being shot twice, while three others were arrested without injuries,” he said.

He said a semi-automatic handgun, a Revolver, and an air gun were seized from the suspects apart from the hammer used in the alleged robbery.

“Since we stopped them from escaping, we were able to seize all the stolen jewellery,” he added.

Fadzil said with the arrests, police believe they have crippled a gang said to be responsible for jewellery shop heists in the capital, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan over the last year.

He said at least eight similar cases believed to have been committed by the gang.

A witness at the scene described it to be chaotic, hearing a quick burst of shots being fired.

“It was like in those video games, where you have quick fire shooting, it sounded like that.

“We later found out it was because the robbers were shooting back at the police,” said Jeffery Chan, 27, an e-sports company general manager.

Jeffery said customers were told to vacate the nearby areas, but allowed back in about an hour later by police.

Pastry shop worker Farid Nordiansya, 25, said he saw hordes of people running towards the east-entrance, followed by sounds of smashing glass.

“I could see few of them (the suspects) holding their bags open while one was breaking the glass counters, then I ducked for cover.

“A colleague then got us to run and hide in the mall’s store room, when shortly after we heard several gunshots,” he said.