A 35-year-old goldsmith was shot dead in a crowded street in Phnom Penh yesterday as two men robbed him in broad daylight.

Witnesses said Sin Leap, who sold gold at the capital’s Phsar Chas market, was shot twice under the left armpit and once in the chest about 4:40pm close to his home in Street 118, Daun Penh district.

Sin Leap had closed his stall and ridden a motorbike back to his house, where two men were waiting for him.

They shot him, stole a plastic bag filled with gold he was carrying and fled on a black Honda C125 motorbike, witnesses said.

Sek Savy, Sin Leap’s older sister, said she had heard gunfire and rushed outside to find her brother dead.

She did not know how much the robbers had stolen, she said.

Police are searching for the two attackers.