AUTHORITIES say they are continuing to investigate the murder of four people in Ratanakkiri province on Sunday morning, even though police shot and killed the main suspect.

Kheng Kry, 32, allegedly stabbed and killed his 61-year-old brother in Prak village, an ethnic Tumpuon community in O’Chum district.

Kheng Kry fled to a nearby house, where he is alleged to have killed three children – Khvek Van, 9, Khvek Pik, 6, and Khvek Mon, 8 – by cutting their throats with a knife.

“The case is in the hands of the police and the prosecutor,

who will continue their investigations,” O’Chum district governor Sak Srun said yesterday.

Sak Srun said that the authorities asked for permission from the prosecutor to bury Kheng Kry’s body away from the village.

“No one showed up claiming to be a family member of the perpetrator, so the villagers dragged the body to a forest and buried it to avoid the smell,” he said.

Sak Srun said on Sunday that the decision was made to use lethal force against the accused, because it was believed that he would otherwise have “killed more people”.