Man Shot Dead Outside Phuket Pub

[webfact]

Man shot dead outside Phuket pub

The locked front door of the 'Say Yes' bar on Patak Road.

PHUKET: -- A man was shot to death outside a bar in Chalong early this morning. Police believe the shooter to be a man he argued with at another bar earlier the same evening.

Superintendent Wichit Intorrason led Lt Col Anukul Nuket and other Chalong Police officers to the 'Say Yes' pub on Patak Rd at about 4:30am today after receiving a report that a man had been murdered outside the venue.

They arrived to find the body of Wichit Wong-oon, 28, lying on the road in front of the pub.

He was shot once in the back with what police believe to have been a homemade shotgun.

His face was also badly bruised, as if beaten, police said.

Mr Wichit, a construction laborer working on a project on Soi Palai, arrived at 'Say Yes' with five friends.

The group had been kicked out of the 'Sarapan Pleng' bar earlier in the night for arguing with other patrons.

Just before 'Say Yes' closed, Mr Wichit went out in front of the pub to have a cigarette.

He was shot in the back while trying to run away from his assailant, police said.

Kusoldharm Foundation workers took Mr Wichit’s body to Vachira Phuket Hospital for examination and storage until a relative in his native Phayao province claim it.

Police are searching for his killer.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-10-07

[bangkokrick]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

[chiang mai]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

Big sigh!

[bangkokrick]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

Big sigh!

Sigh as you may, but there does seem to be an increase in gun crimes throughout Thailand.

Edited October 7, 2010 by bangkokrick

[BillR]

I enjoy taking my family to thai nightclubs at 4:30am

[chiang mai]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

Big sigh!

Sigh as you may, but there does seem to be an increase in gun crimes throughout Thailand.

So what then, Thailand is not a great place to take families and not just Phuket, perhaps better not to make sweeping statements re Phuket (or anywhere else) without some supportive evidence else you might just upset the locals!

[bangkokrick]

So what then, Thailand is not a great place to take families and not just Phuket, perhaps better not to make sweeping statements re Phuket (or anywhere else) without some supportive evidence else you might just upset the locals!

I would not say that it was a sweeping statement, just an observation. I read this board and the local press frequently and it appears to me that there have been quite a number of shootings in Phuket this year. What with the trouble in the South and the bombings in Bangkok. I don't think that my comments are out of order. Touchy lot these Phuket residents.

Rick

[chiang mai]

So what then, Thailand is not a great place to take families and not just Phuket, perhaps better not to make sweeping statements re Phuket (or anywhere else) without some supportive evidence else you might just upset the locals!

I would not say that it was a sweeping statement, just an observation. I read this board and the local press frequently and it appears to me that there have been quite a number of shootings in Phuket this year. What with the trouble in the South and the bombings in Bangkok. I don't think that my comments are out of order. Touchy lot these Phuket residents.

Rick

The phrase, "is anywhere in Thailand safe these days", smacks of something I might read in the Sun or the Mirror (were I to read them in the first place) and I like to think that most people are smarter than to take such things as fact, unfortunately many are not. The problem is Rick that every time somebody makes statements such as yours, potential residents or tourists read them and in the absence of any real data, believe that Phuket is not safe. So I think this is all about relaying facts and whilst opinions are nice to have, statements such as Phuket having more shootings and not being a safe place to take families is not really helpful, unless you provide evidence to support that passing thought! BTW, Bangkok and Southern region problems of past and current times are a million miles away, as far as this island is concerned.

[ScubaBuddha]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

With the exception of a few bars geared towards foreigners on the pier road, Chalong is on the east side of the island and is one of a few Thai areas with Thai only bars and karaoke, and it has expanded over the years. 7-8 years ago I never felt concerned going riding through there late at night, that is not so anymore. Just like some of the high crime areas of Phuket town like Saphan Hin, this doesn't really have any effect on the tourist areas on the west coast, which I feel quite safe in at any time of night.

Edited October 7, 2010 by LivinginKata

[bangkokrick]

The phrase, "is anywhere in Thailand safe these days", smacks of something I might read in the Sun or the Mirror (were I to read them in the first place) and I like to think that most people are smarter than to take such things as fact, unfortunately many are not. The problem is Rick that every time somebody makes statements such as yours, potential residents or tourists read them and in the absence of any real data, believe that Phuket is not safe. So I think this is all about relaying facts and whilst opinions are nice to have, statements such as Phuket having more shootings and not being a safe place to take families is not really helpful, unless you provide evidence to support that passing thought! BTW, Bangkok and Southern region problems of past and current times are a million miles away, as far as this island is concerned.

I don't read any of the UK publications that you mention for obvious reasons. Rather than have a go at me for expressing my opinion of which I am entitled to. Why don't you try to get a complete ban on the press reporting these types of crime in Phuket. These things are real and there are lots of examples of these crimes on Phuket if you care to Google it. Why is it that many on this Thailand forum trash Pattaya at will, but is not allowed to even comment or express their opinions on the sacrosanct Phuket, without upsetting the residents? I did not say that Phuket was any more dangerous than anywhere else. I just said that there appears to be an increase in gun crimes. fair or not?

There has been an increase in knife crimes in London, but it is not affecting tourism. There's no point in living in denial.

[COXYATCITY]

The phrase, "is anywhere in Thailand safe these days", smacks of something I might read in the Sun or the Mirror (were I to read them in the first place) and I like to think that most people are smarter than to take such things as fact, unfortunately many are not. The problem is Rick that every time somebody makes statements such as yours, potential residents or tourists read them and in the absence of any real data, believe that Phuket is not safe. So I think this is all about relaying facts and whilst opinions are nice to have, statements such as Phuket having more shootings and not being a safe place to take families is not really helpful, unless you provide evidence to support that passing thought! BTW, Bangkok and Southern region problems of past and current times are a million miles away, as far as this island is concerned.

I don't read any of the UK publications that you mention for obvious reasons. Rather than have a go at me for expressing my opinion of which I am entitled to. Why don't you try to get a complete ban on the press reporting these types of crime in Phuket. These things are real and there are lots of examples of these crimes on Phuket if you care to Google it. Why is it that many on this Thailand forum trash Pattaya at will, but is not allowed to even comment or express their opinions on the sacrosanct Phuket, without upsetting the residents? I did not say that Phuket was any more dangerous than anywhere else. I just said that there appears to be an increase in gun crimes. fair or not?

There has been an increase in knife crimes in London, but it is not affecting tourism. There's no point in living in denial.

Hey Rick.I am with you on this one when it comes to people trashing Pattaya all the time,if something happens 80 clicks from here the press say near Pattaya,,,and for all them Pattaya bashers start your own thread,.but the true facts are crime is on the rise in most places especially tourist destinations,my wife nearly had her bag snatched from her in Surin town center which people used to say was the real Thailand ,thank god she held on to it till the would be thief road off.1 of the main reasons is the explosion of readily available drugs for sale.(yaba /ice) it was not so bad to walk the soi,s at night when mister T was here,not saying he is good for the country but things were safer for me and my kids,drug dealers can now pay their way out to the BIB ,many times now you see dealers getting caught ,then the press report some of these are known to the BIB as they have been caught a few times before,crime is on the increase in most countries in the world.but i still feel safer here than my home city in the U.K

Edited October 7, 2010 by COXYATCITY

[bangkokrick]

Hey Rick.I am with you on this one when it comes to people trashing Pattaya all the time,if something happens 80 clicks from here the press say near Pattaya,,,and for all them Pattaya bashers start your own thread,.but the true facts are crime is on the rise in most places especially tourist destinations,my wife nearly had her bag snatched from her in Surin town center which people used to say was the real Thailand ,thank god she held on to it till the would be thief road off.1 of the main reasons is the explosion of readily available drugs for sale.(yaba /ice) it was not so bad to walk the soi,s at night when mister T was here,not saying he is good for the country but things were safer for me and my kids,drug dealers can now pay their way out to the BIB ,many times now you see dealers getting caught ,then the press report some of these are known to the BIB as they have been caught a few times before,crime is on the increase in most countries in the world.but i still feel safer here than my home city in the U.K

Hi 'COXYATCITY

My wife is from Si Sa Ket, so not too far away, I hope that your wife is OK after the bag snatch attempt. I agree on the drugs point and that seems to be a world problem at the moment, according to the media. I just got back from working in Brazil and Thailand does not have a problem compared to Sao Paolo, it's horrendous. I think that there are many things to take in to account here, world economy, thus a lack of tourists and a reduction in money for the locals.It's always been the same in most countries when there is a recession, money goes down and crime increases. Lets hope for the best going forward because Thailand is a great place to live. I was not knocking Phuket, but apparently some people thought that I was?

Cheers, Rick

[mallyrd]

The phrase, "is anywhere in Thailand safe these days", smacks of something I might read in the Sun or the Mirror (were I to read them in the first place) and I like to think that most people are smarter than to take such things as fact, unfortunately many are not. The problem is Rick that every time somebody makes statements such as yours, potential residents or tourists read them and in the absence of any real data, believe that Phuket is not safe. So I think this is all about relaying facts and whilst opinions are nice to have, statements such as Phuket having more shootings and not being a safe place to take families is not really helpful, unless you provide evidence to support that passing thought! BTW, Bangkok and Southern region problems of past and current times are a million miles away, as far as this island is concerned.

Just as Songkhla is a million miles away from Phuket. There are more killings in Phuket than there ever are in Songkhla. Granted if you start moving South of Songkhla the story changes somewhat.

[chiang mai]

I don't read any of the UK publications that you mention for obvious reasons. Rather than have a go at me for expressing my opinion of which I am entitled to. Why don't you try to get a complete ban on the press reporting these types of crime in Phuket. These things are real and there are lots of examples of these crimes on Phuket if you care to Google it. Why is it that many on this Thailand forum trash Pattaya at will, but is not allowed to even comment or express their opinions on the sacrosanct Phuket, without upsetting the residents? I did not say that Phuket was any more dangerous than anywhere else. I just said that there appears to be an increase in gun crimes. fair or not?

There has been an increase in knife crimes in London, but it is not affecting tourism. There's no point in living in denial.

Far from wanting to ban press coverage of crime in Thailand, I for one would welcome accurate statistics on the subject but I doubt that any exist. The best I could find on the web were some very dubious stats relating to crime in Thailand and that gun crime in Thailand is the highest or second highest of any in country worldwide. So in this respect you are partially correct in raising the question whether anywhere in Thailand is safe, clearly some parts of the country are more dangerous for some than anywhere else although I suspect the unrest in the deep South is a factor in those numbers.

But where does that leave us as far as Phuket is concerned. I'm a fairly avid newsreader and I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a gun crime reported here, I think it was the shooting of the Thai restaurant owner in Phuket Town and that was many months ago - I also see that recently the local Police announced a crack down on people carrying guns but I simply don't see that gun crime here is anything significant at all, maybe I'm wrong but I don't see the evidence. Perhaps a more important aspect is that I can't recall any incidents of gun crime involving farangs, lots of other crimes but no shootings, hence I continue to believe that Phuket, is a very safe place for a farang to visit or live.

[rodcourt49]

There seems to have been a lot of shootings in Phuket this year. Not a great place to take the family, with all this going on. Is there anywhere safe in Thailand?

Cheers, Rick

..well at 4 in the morning it is cockroah/rat time all set and done.

[LivinLOS]

I enjoy taking my family to thai nightclubs at 4:30am

And the womman attacked / robbed in the middle of the day ???

[LivinLOS]

Anyone who think crime, and in particular gun and violent crime (in which I would include motorised bag snatchings as they result in injury) is living with their head in the sand.

Just in the last few months 2 people I know have had firearms incidents.. Farang shot at and caught a grazing bullet in baanzaan (middle of the day) another close mate having a day time nap on his sofa, woken by armed home invaders who held him at gunpoint and cleaned the house out. Thats just in the recent months. Before people went years without hearing of a gun incident.

[chiang mai]

Anyone who think crime, and in particular gun and violent crime (in which I would include motorised bag snatchings as they result in injury) is living with their head in the sand.

Just in the last few months 2 people I know have had firearms incidents.. Farang shot at and caught a grazing bullet in baanzaan (middle of the day) another close mate having a day time nap on his sofa, woken by armed home invaders who held him at gunpoint and cleaned the house out. Thats just in the recent months. Before people went years without hearing of a gun incident.

I don't think you can group motorized bag snatch with gun crime, agree they both can result in injury and both are dangerous but we're not discussing overall crime here, just firearm related.

Presumably you also think it's on the increase, I didn't hear about the Banzaan market incident and I would guess that your mates story wasn't reported in the press? I'm still not convinced however, solely on the basis of the two incidents you've raised, that gun crime here is significant, especially as it relates to farangs. Could be wrong, sorry for the typo's, the sand keeps falling out of my hair and ears onto the keyboard and it makes it difficult to type properly.

[BillR]

I enjoy taking my family to thai nightclubs at 4:30am

And the womman attacked / robbed in the middle of the day ???

What about it? Europe and south America is far worse for bag snatches and worse. I doubt Thailand is in the top 20 for violent crimes against foreigners. It's unfortunate when it happens here or anywhere. The frustration it seems in Thailand is that the people committing the crimes are hardly caught, and if they are nothing happens. But, thats not going to change any time soon. Only thing you can do here or anywhere in the world is be more vigilant.

Wonder what happened to the thai guy who shot the German for flipping him the Bird?

[katabeachbum]

Anyone who think crime, and in particular gun and violent crime (in which I would include motorised bag snatchings as they result in injury) is living with their head in the sand.

Just in the last few months 2 people I know have had firearms incidents.. Farang shot at and caught a grazing bullet in baanzaan (middle of the day) another close mate having a day time nap on his sofa, woken by armed home invaders who held him at gunpoint and cleaned the house out. Thats just in the recent months. Before people went years without hearing of a gun incident.

I don't think you can group motorized bag snatch with gun crime, agree they both can result in injury and both are dangerous but we're not discussing overall crime here, just firearm related.

Presumably you also think it's on the increase, I didn't hear about the Banzaan market incident and I would guess that your mates story wasn't reported in the press? I'm still not convinced however, solely on the basis of the two incidents you've raised, that gun crime here is significant, especially as it relates to farangs. Could be wrong, sorry for the typo's, the sand keeps falling out of my hair and ears onto the keyboard and it makes it difficult to type properly.

I do not belive gun crimes has increased in Thailand or in Phuket. More English language press past 5 years have made us more aware of it. There is a continuos reduction in illegal fire arms in LOS, and the legal fire arms are not often involved in crimes.

To the poster stating Thailand has a record in gun related crimes, study the stats, Phillipines is no1, followed by most countries in South America, US and so on

The area where this shooting incident took place, has evolved as one of three areas in Phuket with thai/burmese focused night entertainment

[madmitch]

Some of you must have missed this article in the Phuket Gazette a couple of months ago.

Violent crime up in Phuket

[xylophone]

Some of you must have missed this article in the Phuket Gazette a couple of months ago.

Violent crime up in Phuket

And that does not include the shootings that never make the local news/are hushed up, the Banzaan incident being one.

[COXYATCITY]

Some of you must have missed this article in the Phuket Gazette a couple of months ago.

Violent crime up in Phuket

Yes Madmitch. i remember it was posted on here as well,violent crime and drugs up 300%,on the beautiful Island..

[bangkokrick]

Some of you must have missed this article in the Phuket Gazette a couple of months ago.

Violent crime up in Phuket

It appears that my initial comments were valid. Thanks for the link Mitch.

Cheers, Rick

[bangkokrick]

I do not belive gun crimes has increased in Thailand or in Phuket. More English language press past 5 years have made us more aware of it. There is a continuos reduction in illegal fire arms in LOS, and the legal fire arms are not often involved in crimes.

To the poster stating Thailand has a record in gun related crimes, study the stats, Phillipines is no1, followed by most countries in South America, US and so on

The area where this shooting incident took place, has evolved as one of three areas in Phuket with thai/burmese focused night entertainment

Gun crimes are just that. Does it really matter who is shooting who?

[LivinLOS]

I don't think you can group motorized bag snatch with gun crime, agree they both can result in injury and both are dangerous but we're not discussing overall crime here, just firearm related.

Well I was including the kind of kicking people off bikes (not 'just' a bag snatch) as a violent crime.. The injuries that it leaves people with show its violence.

I also disagree that it happens as much in Europe.. Certainly in my case its happened to far more people I know in Thailand than it has in the people I knew in the west.

Presumably you also think it's on the increase, I didn't hear about the Banzaan market incident and I would guess that your mates story wasn't reported in the press? I'm still not convinced however, solely on the basis of the two incidents you've raised, that gun crime here is significant, especially as it relates to farangs.

If its significant or not (debateable statistics showing 3rd in the world for gun crime) I dont know.. Is it on the rise.. I would say so from the limited anecdotal evidence I have seen.

Does it exist a lot outside farang Thailand ?? Sure.. On a visit to Samut Songkrahm and hanging out having a beer with some local lads and a collection of family 'cousins' they were going through war woulds from the local all night roadhouse joint. 1 of them had bullet scars (.22 at a guess) and they all had knife / bottle scars.. Seemed very much the norm.

Edited October 8, 2010 by LivinLOS