POLICE are investigating whether organised crime played a role in the fatal shooting of a man in Meru, Selangor, on Friday afternoon.
The victim, a 46-year-old man, was found dead in the driver’s seat of a four-wheel-drive vehicle parked outside a motorcycle shop on Lorong Mahang 1, Taman Meru Utama. The shooting occurred at around 3.37pm.
The New Straits Times cited Klang Utara district police chief Assistant Commissioner S Vijaya Rao saying the case is being treated as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death penalty.
“We are not ruling out the involvement of a secret society,” he said when contacted on Saturday.
Vijaya confirmed that officers are analysing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the area, although no key leads have emerged yet.
“Some footage has already been reviewed, and other nearby CCTV recordings are still being examined,” he added.
Police have recorded statements from several witnesses and are expected to interview more individuals as investigations progress.
In a further development, residents near the scene of a fatal shooting in Meru initially mistook the sound of gunfire for firecrackers or routine crow control operations, only realising the gravity of the situation when a crowd began to gather around a vehicle.
A 55-year-old shopowner, who declined to be named, said she was chatting with friends nearby when they heard several loud bangs. “We didn’t see anything at first. Someone said there might have been a shooting, but I didn’t believe it until I walked over and saw the four-wheel-drive vehicle,” she told reporters.
“I thought it was just firecrackers, or maybe the usual crow shooting. Only later did we realise it was something serious,” she added, noting there had been no signs of disturbance prior to the incident. “It was quiet. Just another normal afternoon. We didn’t see any argument, any fight, nothing.”
Her husband, who was also at the scene, said the bursts of noise sounded like “five or six firecrackers going off in quick succession” and did not immediately register as gunshots.
The shooting, which occurred around 3.37pm on Friday outside a motorcycle shop on Lorong Mahang 1, Taman Meru Utama, left a 46-year-old man dead at the wheel of his vehicle.
Klang Utara police chief Assistant Commissioner S. Vijaya Rao confirmed that the incident was first reported by patrol officers in the vicinity.
The fatal attack follows a separate double shooting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night, in which two local men were killed outside a shopping mall along Jalan Loke Yew. Authorities have yet to confirm if the incidents are connected. - June 21, 2025