The Mattakkuliya Police opened fire at a car after it failed to comply with police orders to stop during an inspection of the suspicious vehicle.
The vehicle was later taken into police custody, but the driver managed to escape, according to police.
The incident had occurred when a man, accompanied by his mother and pregnant wife, had parked his car with the engine running along the Wasala Road, within the Kotahena Police Division, to purchase food from a nearby restaurant. While he was away, an individual had gotten into the car and had driven off with the two women still inside.
A team of officers from the Mattakkuliya Police Station — who were in the Kotahena Police Division for a separate investigation — immediately took action upon receiving information about the theft. They pursued the fleeing vehicle and signaled for it to stop.
However, when the suspect ignored police orders and continued driving, the officers fired two shots with their duty pistols and managed to bring the vehicle to a halt near the Bloemendal railway line in Kotahena.
As the officers approached, the suspect had jumped out of the car and fled the scene. According to police, the two women inside the vehicle were unharmed.
The Kotahena Police is conducting further investigations to arrest the suspect.
