Police hunt for gunman after rare mall shooting panics shoppers in Malaysia

Police in Malaysia are looking for the suspect in a shooting at a mall in Setia Alam, a rare incident of gun violence in a country with strict firearm laws.

A mall employee sustained injuries after a man opened fire at about 10.50pm local time on Saturday, police said. The gunman has been identified as a man in his 30s with a history of 11 criminal acts.

He remains at large, more than 48 hours after the shooting put the nation on edge.

Selangor state police said the suspect fired four shots at the janitor after entering the shopping mall in Setia Alam, located about 34km from capital Kuala Lumpur. The suspect escaped to another floor where he continued firing additional shots.

“We are in the midst of tracking him down. The motive for the attack is still under investigation,” Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said after the incident.

“We are confident that he will be arrested soon,” he said on Monday.

Police said the suspect shattered a glass stairwell window along with a sliding door before escaping into the car park.

He vanished into the night after hijacking a car at gunpoint.

The suspect reportedly held a family of six at gunpoint for about 45 minutes while getting away from the mall. The family – a couple and their four children – were having a meal when chaos ensued at the shopping mall.

“My family and I faced a terrifying 45 minutes inside the car with that man, who pointed a gun at us and ordered me to drive away from the shopping mall in Setia Alam on the day of the incident,” the father, 30, told the Malay language daily Sinar Harian.

He said the gunman fired shots at a wall to show his gun was real.

“I quickly took my family out and as we headed towards the parking area, I heard an explosion,” the man said.

They were about to get into the car when the gunman showed up and forced them in. “I asked him to put away the gun so the children wouldn’t be scared,” he said, adding that the shooter got into the backseat.

The victim said he drove for 45 minutes before the gunman ordered him to stop by the side of a highway and left with the memory card from the dashcam.

“A mall patron was hailed down by the suspect, but he kept on driving. The suspect then fired a shot that hit the car,” police said.

Police recovered more than 10 bullet casings from various areas of the mall and the car park as video from the shooting showed terrified shoppers scrambling for cover.

A 20-year-old employee told the New Straits Times that she was handing out perfume samples to customers when she suddenly heard two loud bangs about 40m away from her workplace.

"At that moment, I had no idea what the sound was. When I looked towards the door leading to the staircase, I saw two cleaning staff members in distress," the eyewitness said.

By the third gunshot, people began rushing out and running in all directions leaving their belongings behind, she added.

Singaporean actor Aaron Aziz was inside the mall with his 14-year-old daughter when the shooting took place, he said in a TikTok video.

Malaysia's home minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on Sunday reassured the public that national security and public order remain the top priorities in the wake of the shooting. "There is no need for public panic," he said.

“The swift response by the police reflects their competence and any shortcomings in their capabilities could have led to a different outcome,” he said in a press conference.

Last month, a 40-year-old man was fatally shot as he was eating lunch at a restaurant Last month in Johor Bahru.