Thief fires at good Samaritans

A thief on a motorcycle who had just stolen some Lm80 from an elderly man in Vittoriosa fired shots in the direction of three people who tried to help the victim.

None of the three people was hit.

The elderly man left his home in Triq it-Torri at about 7.40 p.m. on Tuesday and a man armed with a pistol and wearing a crash helmet stopped him, hit him and robbed him of his money.

Three passers-by who saw the thief strike the elderly men were about to intervene but the thief fired shots in their direction and fled on the motorbike.

The police later found the bike in Triq il-Gublew tal-Fidda and it resulted it had been reported stolen the previous day.

Police investigating the case are trying to establish if there are any links between this crime and the hold-ups committed in mid-August at two lotto booths, also in the Cottonera area, sources said.

In one of the cases, thieves who had just held up a lotto booth in Ghajn Dwieli shot a man who had followed them. He was hit in the arm.

Within a few minutes, an armed man wearing a crash helmet walked into a lotto booth in Rinella Street, Kalkara and stole money as he held up the lotto receiver.

In both hold-ups, the thieves made use of vehicles they had stolen the day before. Just over Lm1,000 were stolen in each of the hold-ups.