The Star reported that the witness, a woman, was driving along the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway yesterday evening when she came across a man bleeding in his car. She stopped to help thinking it was a traffic accident.

She told police while taking him to the hospital, the man contacted someone on the telephone and was overheard saying “the bodyguard had gone mad” and that their boss, who is a Datuk, was dead.

The Star reported that the injured victim had also said he was pistol-whipped by the bodyguard, resulting in the bloody head and face.

The woman witness got scared on hearing the conversation and dropped the man off at a petrol station before going to the police station to lodge a report.

Penang Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Zainol Samah told reporters the bodyguard, who was in the same vehicle, had taken out his gun and opened fire.

He confirmed that one of the deceased was a 32-year-old “Datuk” and that two other passengers in the car had tried to escape but were also shot dead.

Several others were also injured after they were hit by stray bullets. One of those was identified as RTM videographer Mohamad Amirul Amin, 28 who was shot in the left shoulder.

The gunman was later arrested.