4 Month Old Daughter Used As Human Shield Against Police

Man uses four-month-old daughter as human shield against police

The four-month-old girl resting in her mother's arms after the incident in Bukit Mertajam. Starpix by Mustafa Ahmad

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Police shot and wounded a parang-wielding man who had taken his four-month-old daughter briefly as hostage in a bid to escape on Friday.

The 26-year-old man, wanted for drug offences and house-breaking, was at his kampung house in Kampung Bukit Teh, Machang Bubok when police arrived at 9.45am.

Realising that the house was being surrounded by policemen, the man took out two parang and held his daughter as a shield outside the house.

Police fired a warning shot to force the man to surrender but he ran holding the parang at the child's face.

Penang CID chief SAC Mazlan Kesah said after the man refused to surrender, police fired several shots at his leg. The man fell and policemen grabbed the girl away from him before he could harm her.

"He tried to attack the team with two machetes when we surrounded the house. Even warning shots didn't stop him," SAC Mazlan told reporters.

The man was hit in the left thigh and ankles. He was rushed to the Bukit Mertajam Hospital and is reported to be in a stable condition.

SAC Mazlan said the man was wanted by the police in connection with a drug case and theft.