Three Dead, One Critical In Phuket Shooting

[george]

Three dead, one critical in Phuket shooting

By John Le Fevre

PHUKET (thaivisa.com): -- Three people have been killed and a fourth seriously wounded after a shooting incident in the southern Phuket town of Chalong.

According to police reports five men were drinking in front of a house near Chalong circle when an argument broke out resulting in one man leaving the group.

Witnesses said the man returned a short time later in a black Toyota pickup and at close range shot the four remaining men in the head, before driving away.

The three men killed have been identified as Kowit Nongmanee, 36, Somsak Rodchoi, 29, and another man nicknamed Khun Tea.

A 35-year-old man, Yotin Singpakosit, is currently in hospital in a critical condition.

Police are still attempting to piece together what led to the shooting and hoping to gain more information from Yotin if he survives.

The shooting follows a gunfight late last month between rival gangs in a property dispute that left one man dead and three others wounded and the suicide last week by a 61-year-old American expat with an unregistered .22 calibre rifle.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-10