JOHOR BARU: "I thought it was just a fight. I didn't expect someone would end up dead."
That was the admission by a petrol station employee, who witnessed a murder at the Taman Pelangi petrol station yesterday evening.
The man, who only wished to be identified as Ismail, 53, said at the time of the incident, he was on duty when he heard a women screaming in Mandarin.
This, followed by a loud bang which sounded like a gunshot, prompted him to investigate.
That was when he saw a white BMW knock over a man. He then saw the car slam into reverse and running over the victim again.
Ismail said the BMW then left the station and sped into Jalan Serampang before disappearing in the traffic.
"I thought it was just a normal fight between men. I did not think there would be killing involved and I certainly didn't expect that level of violence to take place," said Ismail.
Meanwhile, a worker from a restaurant across the street said she and other customers were stunned to see what transpired. Many had initially thought that an accident had taken place.
"I was serving tea to customers when I heard something explode from the petrol station across the road. I thought to myself 'what was that?'," said the worker, who only wanted to be known as Wanda.
"I thought it was an accident because there were often accidents at the T-junction.
"Moments later, I saw a man running into the white car before it sped off," she said.
Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said last night that the explosion was most likely a firecracker, which was thrown from the BMW before it ran over the victim.
The dead man, in his 30s, was found with stab wounds and died on the spot.
Police have yet to make any arrests and have cautioned the public against sharing unverified information on the case.
At 7.30pm yesterday, a man was fatally stabbed and run over by a car following an encounter with four other men.
Prior to the incident, the victim had stopped to pump air into his car's tyres. A woman, believed to be his wife, was with him in the car.
He was set upon by four men, who tried to drag him into their BMW. When that failed, he was stabbed and then run over.
The whole incident was captured on video by a witness. The video clip subsequently went viral on social media.