Seven armed robbers broke into a family’s house on Monday evening in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district, shooting a security guard who tried to intervene in the stomach before fleeing with money and jewellery.

Sear Kim, deputy chief of Boeung Snor commune, said that the robbers – armed with six AK-47s – entered the unlocked house in Prey Kay village and tied up the husband, Ken Korn, 44, his wife Phy Thoeun, 38, and their two children.

When the family refused to cooperate, one of the robbers fired into the air, drawing villagers and local authorities to the scene, Kim said.

Villager Ry Sophart, 51, said the gunmen shouted that they would shoot if anyone got closer. When his brother Ry Sopheap, 45, a village security guard, tried to help the family, he was shot in the stomach twice. He is now recovering after surgery.

“The robbers came in through the front gate and left through the back gate … They likely knew the location very well,” he said.

Deputy commune chief Kim said that the perpetrators escaped on their motorbikes with $500 in cash and jewellery. District police chief Khim Saran and commune police chief Srey Pai could not recall any armed robberies in the area in recent years.