A 20-year-old man is on his deathbed after being shot in the head by an unknown assailant as he walked down the street in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district on Monday night.

Svay Pak Commune Police Chief Him Kimsan said victim Sum Kemsrim, from Kandal province, was walking his motorbike near the Ly Yong Phat Bridge with two friends when he was shot. The two friends, who were trailing about 20 metres behind him on the unlit street, said they could not see how many shooters there were.

“We have not discovered the real motive, or even the appearance of the suspects,” he said.

Kemsrim survived the shooting and was taken to hospital, but Sum Kemsros, the sister of the victim, said she brought her brother home yesterday after doctors said there was nothing they could do to save his life, as the bullet was lodged too deep in his brain. Her brother, whom she described as a “gentle” man, had gone to Phnom Penh for New Year’s Eve.

“I invited a holy man to preach so that he might get some dharma before he dies,” Kemsros said. “I have no hope he can survive.”