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Published: Tuesday November 16, 2010 MYT 3:33:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday November 16, 2010 MYT 7:13:12 PM

Teenager shot dead during botched burglary (Updated)

By RASHITHA A. HAMID

PETALING JAYA: A teenager attempting to burgle a house paid with his life - the 17-year-old was shot dead by the 72-year-old house owner. In the 9.40am incident Tuesday, R. Jeevan and an accomplice had entered the double-storey house in Jalan SS8, Kelana Jaya, here, while two others waited outside in a car.

The two suspects, armed with parangs, climbed over the gate before breaking the front grille to gain entry to the house. According to Selangor deputy CID chief Asst Comm Khaw Kok Chin, the two burglars then warned the Cambodian maid, who was downstairs, to keep quiet. He said the house owner, who was upstairs, heard the noise and came down, holding a pump gun.

The man, a retiree, shot the teenager as he was trying to charge up the stairs brandishing the parang. "His partner escaped immediately after the teenager was shot," ACP Khaw said, adding that the suspect, who managed to steal two handphones, fled in the car. The house owner called the police and the teenager, who was seriously injured, was rushed to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, where he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit.

However, ACP Khaw said the teenager, who was shot in the ribs, succumbed to his injury an hour later. The house owner was at home with his two grandchildren, aged eight and 10, maid and another family member when the incident transpired. ACP Khaw said no one else was hurt. When asked, ACP Khaw said the house owner had a licence to own the pump gun but refused to elaborate further.

It is learnt that Jeevan was a school dropout and had been arrested twice before for car theft and robbery. According to his mother, known only as Vanaja, Jeevan was the eldest of four children and was misled by bad company. "He had just joined a lorry company but did not go to work today. His friends came to pick him up in the morning," she said, adding that she received a call from the police at 11am informing her of her son's death.