A Jakarta man has been arrested after threatening two high school students with a gun over a remark they made about his Lamborghini that police said tugged at his insecurities.
According to the police, on Saturday, a 44-year-old man identified by his initials AM was driving his orange Lambo in the upscale neighborhood of Kemang in South Jakarta.
Two high school students, who were walking near the sports car, remarked, “Wow, must be your boss’ car,” which AM heard.
“[AM] did not appreciate the remark, stepped out, and uttered an inappropriate word [at the students],” South Jakarta Police spokesman Yusri Yunus told reporters on Tuesday, as quoted by Kompas.
The students tried to run from AM, but he took out his gun and initially fired it into the air twice to stop them from running.
“They were told to crouch, but the students did not comply. So [AM] fired another shot into the air. So there were three shots in total,” Yusri said.
The students, who were physically unharmed, were eventually let go after AM forced them to apologize to him.
Following the incident, the students reported the incident to the police, which led to AM’s arrest on Monday. Police seized from the suspect a Beretta .32 pocket pistol — which he had a license for from the Indonesian Shooting Association (Perbakin) — as well as three used bullet casings and nine live rounds.
For now, AM has been charged with violating articles on “unpleasant acts” under the Criminal Code, for which he may face up to one year in prison, if convicted. But that may be the least of his worries after the police did some digging into his Lambo.
According to the police, AM’s car is registered under a laborer who is identified by his initials AR, possibly to avoid higher progressive taxes on the Lambo. When police questioned AR, he said that he once lent his KTP (national ID card) to a friend in 2013 in exchange for some money. Police believe that the KTP was then used to apply for the Lambo’s registration in a tax avoidance scheme.
However, police said that there have been no late tax payments for the Lambo.
Aside from suspicion of tax avoidance, police are also looking into the possibility that AM tried to derail official investigation into the case. When AM was in police custody but his car hadn’t been seized, his brother reportedly took it for a drive and crashed it against a barrier on Jalan Sudirman on Tuesday in a possible attempt to tamper with evidence.
