KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — A Wisma Putra official has confirmed the death of a Malaysian restaurant owner, who was attacked with a hammer in a racist attack in New York on Tuesday, The Star reported, today.
Ng Tan Kheong, 60, was pronounced dead by hospital authorities in New York at approximately 4am local time (4pm Malaysia time) on Friday.
“Based on a report received from our consulate-general’s office in New York, the police there notified them that the victim had passed away at the hospital at about 4am on January 18 due to serious injuries.
“The authorities there also managed contact a next-of-kin of the deceased who said that the family will make the necessary arrangements for the body to be brought back to the country,” the official told the English daily when contacted, today.
It was reported that there was difficulty in contacting the deceased’s next-of-kin here in Malaysia as he was separated from his wife and was childless.
Authorities had attempted to contact his family at the deceased’s last known address in Pulai, Johor but it had proved futile.
According to a New York Post report, Ng and two other workers were violently attacked by an armed assailant with a hammer at the former’s Seafood Buffet restaurant located in Emmons Avenue in Brooklyn.
Ng was left brain dead from the attack while his employee Fufai Pun, 34, died from his injuries, and restaurant manager Tsz Mat Pun, 50, is in critical condition.
It was reported that the attacker has been identified as 34-year-old Arthur Martunovich, who had barged into the restaurant and hit Ng and his staff on their heads with a hammer.
The eatery was packed with customers when the incident took place on January 1 at around 5pm local time.
Quoting a law enforcement officer, the report said that Martunovich claimed he has a problem with Asian men and that the attack was inspired by a Chinese movie he had watched in which “men were mistreating women”.
