A man involved in the shooting which led to the death of a 32-year-old man in Marsascala on Thursday evening is helping police in their investigations, but the police said that it was still too early to arraign anyone yesterday.

At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Pierre Calleja revealed that nine shots had been fired from two semi-automatic firearms, on which ballistic analysis are underway.

The police were informed of the incident through an anonymous phone call at 7pm. When they went on site, in Triq Ġużeppi Lanzon, they spotted a man, a 45-year-old from Marsascala, who had been shot and slightly injured. The man said that he had been shot at from a car, and that the shots were fired in a garage complex, three storeys beneath the ground.

There they discovered a Hyundai with two shot men inside. One of them, Għaxaq resident Kevin Gatt, was found dead, while the other, 32-year-old Fgura resident Stephen Zammit, was seriously injured.

Mr Zammit was taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment, and remains in danger of dying. The two men were not hooded, but their hands were covered.

Mr Gatt was known to the police, having been charged with the attempted murder of a police officer and other charges over an incident which took place in 2006. He had been caught robbing a shop in Santa Venera when he attempted to evade capture by driving a car he had stolen in the direction of a policeman, and was shot in the hip in the process.

He had also been charged with conspiring to traffic in cannabis resin in 2008.

The Hyundai, one of three cars involved in the incident, had been stolen by Żebbuġ the previous night, and had two sets of fake number plates reported stolen on Monday and Tuesday. The other two cars are linked to the man the police arrested.

So far, the 45-year-old is the only one the police have spoken to over the incident, and he claimed that the three men did not know each other. The police hope to be able to speak to Mr Zammit in the near future.

No drugs or money were found on site, and AC Calleja said that it was too early to link the incident to usury. He also denied that the place was under police surveillance, contrary to claims made in some news articles.

What the police did find were spent cartridges and tyre marks where the Hyundai was parked, and the AC confirmed that the shooting incident took place in the car.