Man killed in robbery attempt

POLICE in Phnom Penh are hunting three suspects involved in an armed robbery early on Saturday in Chamkarmon district that left one man shot dead and two women injured.

According to police, Chan Sokchea, 24, was trying to stop three men from robbing his fiancée, Net Sothearoth, 22, and his sister Chan Sreypour, 18, when he was shot twice in the head by the suspects.

According to Tomnub Toek commune police chief Phorn Oun, the two surviving witnesses said the victims had arrived in Sokchea’s Lexus sedan outside his home in the commune at about 1am after a friend’s party on Koh Pich when they were confronted by three men sharing two motorbikes.

According to Oun, one suspect approached Sothearoth, who had left the car to open the gate, while another ran after Sreypour, who was also outside the vehicle, and snatched her phone.

Still in the driver’s seat, Sokchea attempted to run down one of the men but was struck by two bullets fired by one of the suspects behind the car. After Sokchea was shot, the car clipped his fiancée’s leg and crashed into his home. The suspect avoided being hit and escaped with the other two men. “He died on the way to the hospital,” Oun said of Sokchea, adding the two women were treated for minor injuries.

Chamkarmon district police chief Yin San said officers were seeking the three suspects.