A special police team has commenced investigations, under the supervision of the SP in charge of Nugegoda, to apprehend suspects in connection with the shooting incident in Kothalawala, Kaduwela this morning. 

Two persons were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman on a motorcycle near the Kothalawala Junction on the Malabe-Kaduwela main road. 

Police suspected a long-standing rivalry between two organized criminal gangs as the motive for the murders.

One of the victims in the shooting has been identified as 42-year-old Ruwan Thushara, also known as ‘Pidali Thushara’, a father of two from Pahala Bomiriya, who is suspected of being involved in several criminal activities including a drug racket. 

Meanwhile it has also been uncovered that he had been the target of a similar shooting which had occurred in Kaduwela last year, however he had managed to escape unharmed. 

It has also been reported that Thushara belongs to a gang which was at war with a gang connected to the recently murdered underworld figure “Samayan”.

Meanwhile the second victim in the shooting has been identified as Kothalawalage Piyawansa Somaguptha, 49, an employee of a private company. He was reportedly traveling to a shop in the vicinity to purchase paint necessary for his house. 

Police said that close to 18 bullet casings of a T56 assault rifle were found at the scene of the shooting and that a person who was inside a nearby three-wheeler had also sustained minor injuries.

Acting Magistrate of Kaduwela Hemapala Ekanayake had conducted the preliminary magistrate’s inquiry regarding the incident.