A PHNOM Penh police officer was shot dead while on patrol early yesterday, leaving two young children without a father.

Chin Tikea, 38, deputy chief of the public order department at Meanchey district police, died instantly about 1.30am after being shot in the head while patrolling Boeung Tompun commune.

He had gone to the area foll-owing a separate trip to the Stung Meanchey commune, where he had reportedly prevented two groups of  “gangsters”  causing trouble.

His widow, Moeuk Srey Mom, 31, told the Post yesterday she had come to her husband’s aid after she heard he had been shot.

“I saw my husband fallen in a pool of blood and other police officers were standing around my husband’s body,” she said.

The tearful mother of two is now preparing to bury her husband’s body in his homeland in Kampot province. His children are aged nine and three.

“My husband died because he abided by law and order,” Moeuk Srey Mom said yesterday while appealing for authorities to catch his killers,  who are believed to be gangsters.

Yesterday, colleagues paid tribute to Chin Tikea, who joined the police force as a teenager in 1989 and married Moeuk Srey Mom in 2000.

Meanchey district police chief Hi Narin said Chin Tikea’s death was a loss for the force and authorities were “hunting for the perpetrators”.