JOHOR BAHRU: Johor’s crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim has revealed that he and his family were near the shooting incident at Siam Paragon mall on Tuesday evening (Oct 3) and later sought refuge at the Singapore embassy in Bangkok after things escalated.
In response to queries, Singapore’s foreign ministry told CNA that it was “honoured” to assist the crown prince, adding that both Malaysia and Singapore share “a tradition of mutual support for our citizens who may need help whilst overseas”.
The shooting incident on Tuesday afternoon saw two women killed – one from China and the other from Myanmar. Five others were injured. Thai police have arrested a 14-year-old suspected gunman.
In an Instagram story posted at around 11.30pm yesterday, Tunku Ismail said that he, his wife Che’ Puan Besar Khaleeda and the couple’s four children were in a hotel lobby near the mall when they heard people “shouting and running” after the shooter started firing.
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“It was loud and there was a lot of screaming. We were all sitting in the hotel lobby at that time. We carried the kids/family to safety, running to the basement with my team, and the only thing on my mind was how many shooters were there, what weapons they had and what was the situation,” wrote Tunku Ismail, who did not name the hotel they were in during the incident.
He said that he and his team had to be prepared “for any circumstance” at that point when they heard gunshots.
“I still have images of me telling my kids, ‘everything is going to be okay. Babah and Mama are here’ and telling them to get down while waiting for the car,” said Tunku Ismail.
He added that he and his security team then stood in front of his family members, creating “a human shield to protect them at all cost”.
“The idea was to get the family and my team out of there. My wife hugged all our kids, staying low and trying to calm them because they were terrified and were crying. I was shouting at the top of my voice to our security to get the car to the basement and get us to a secure location away from the place,” wrote Tunku Ismail.