A 52-year-old restaurant owner has escaped death in a shooting incident near his house in Taman Inderawasih on Wednesday night.

Penang CID chief SAC Mazlan Kesah said the businessman was returning home in his sports utility vehicle when he was shot at a few times by two men on a motorcycle at about 8.50pm.

"The shots missed him. He turned back to his restaurant about 500 meters away and called the police. The assailants between 20 and 30 fled the scene.

"The victim couldn't identify the attackers as it happened really fast," Mazlan told reporters at the scene.

He said the police found three 9mm Luger (semi-automatic pistol) shells at the scene and had yet to establish the motive of the attack.

"Although the victim's house is equipped with a close-circuit television camera, it is not beamed to the scene," he added.