There were up to 15 men who walked into the shop at about 7am in the morning when they opened for business.

According to Lae police from CCTV footage viewed, it was seen that the men pretended to be early morning shoppers, but then pulled out homemade guns and bush knives attacking and chasing the security guards; some of which tried to force their way into the area where the cash register and other staff were.

This was when the Asian shop owner drew his licensed pistol and shot one of the robbers dead who was later identified as a Grade 12 student at a Secondary School in Lae.

The gang stopped what they were trying to and they fled from the scene.

Police were informed of the attempted robbery through the Police Emergency Toll free number and arrived at the scene after the robbers had fled and brought the deceased to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police have been able to identify certain suspects and a suspect wanted for Murder from the CCTV footage.

Police will not release names of the deceased in both cases as this might only encourage notoriety and also respect the families of those killed although they were carrying out criminal activities.

“Their families are innocent,” police adds.