Boonlua Chatree
A British man and four Thais were hurt when unknown
gunmen sprayed bullets instead of water across Pattaya for Songkran.
In two shooting incidents on Soi 8 and near the
Tropicana Hotel, Michael Gollop, 66, was grazed in the forehead, Anont
Kaewkijkarn, 18, suffered a shot to the arm and a 17-year-old Thai man
was shot in the back April 17.
Gollop’s 39-year-old girlfriend, Thanarat Plukmao,
said they were enjoying some Songkran revelry when a youth came up to
them with a gun, asking who hurt his friend. Shots rang out afterward
and Gollop was grazed.
Witness Gin Kasin, 22, said five troublemakers on
Honda motorbikes were behind the incident, with the shooter being a
passenger on one of the bikes.
It was a busy day for police with another random
shooting reported near Suthawas Temple on Soi Nernplabwan.
Chuchai Lhongman, 23, was grazed in the head and a
20-year-old Burmese man identified only as “Tualek” was hit in the hip.
They were treated at Chonburi Hospital.
The gunshots were believed to have come from someone
firing a gun randomly into the air.
