Private Adam, man at the centre of 1987 KL shootings, dies

Adam Jaafar, better known as Private Adam, died yesterday at the Penang Hospital due to a lung infection.

His sister, Hawa, 56, when contacted by Bernama, said her brother died at about 9am while receiving treatment at the hospital.

“Before this, my brother was fine, he was healthy except for the occasional fever which is normal… the only thing was last week he was admitted to hospital and the medical examination showed he had a lung infection,” she said today.

She said his remains were buried at the Datuk Keramat Muslim Cemetery after zohor prayers. He was 57.

Hawa said the family was saddened by her brother’s death but had accepted it as fate and prayed that his soul would be blessed and placed among the pious.

Adam, the eldest of eight siblings, had been a good and caring brother, she added.

In October 1987, Adam, then a 26-year-old soldier, ran amok and went on a shooting spree at Jalan Chow Kit which left one person dead and several others wounded.

He escaped the death penalty and was sent to Tanjung Rambutan Hospital for 10 years after he was certified as insane at the time of committing the offence.