"Good kids" ambushed and shot in NE - one dies, another injured - police believe it's a case of mistaken identity

[webfact]

Daily News Thai Caption: Two boys ambushed and shot

 

Daily News followed up on a disturbing case in Udon Thani in the north east of Thailand when two 14 year old boys on a motorcycle on their way home after playing sports at school were shot.

 

One of the boys called Tam was killed instantly while another was shot in the back as he fled. 

 

The assailant escaped. The distraught parents were interviewed by the press at the funeral of Tam, 14. His mother said that he was a good and lively boy who was never in trouble. She called on the police to quickly solve the shocking crime.

 

The survivor of the attack said that he had joined his friend to ride home in the dark after sports. Tam, who was driving, was hit in the neck and the motorcycle crashed to the ground.

 

The survivor ran off and was shot in the back with the bullet coming out his chest. He was grievously wounded. 

 

A member of the public arrived at the scene and called police causing the assailant to flee on a bike.

 

In total it was thought that 4-5 shots were fired. The boy said it was dark but he had no idea who the assailant was or why they had been shot.

 

The mother said that she and her husband - who separated years ago leaving the children in the care of grandparents - had gone to work in Korat and Ayutthaya to get money for their 17 year old daughter and Tam. 

 

She said Tam was a great kid who never got into trouble. Tam loved sports. She demanded a quick arrest. 

 

Pol Col Phanpetch Laokamnertpetch of the Udon provincial police said that CCTV was all the police had to go on except the testimony of the survivor. 

 

Neither of the boys were ever in trouble and were not mixed up in drugs. 

 

He said that police believed it was a case of mistaken identity.

 

The incident happened at a U-turn by a "khao lam" (baked rice in bamboo) stall in the village of Ban Nong Pheung in the Kumphawapi police jurisdiction on Monday evening. 

 

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[Dmaxdan]

My heart goes out to the parents of the two boys.

The police need to pull out all the stops and find and arrest those responsible for this truly awful crime.

[AsianAtHeart]

It's hard to know what really happened.  The mother may not be up to speed on what her son was into, seeing as she had left him to the care of grandparents and was not living with her son.  No guardian was present when the tragedy took place.  No one wishes to think ill of one's deceased relatives--it is natural to defend them, even if they were not exactly spotless.  Perhaps the child was innocent, but we simply do not know all the facts to be certain of this.

[JCauto]

4 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

My heart goes out to the parents of the two boys.

The police need to pull out all the stops and find and arrest those responsible for this truly awful crime.

Unfortunately, in Thailand this means "find a local powerless scapegoat and pin it on them". It just compounds the tragedy. The police here have no stops to pull, just rackets to run. 

[Skeptic7]

6 hours ago, AsianAtHeart said:

It's hard to know what really happened.  The mother may not be up to speed on what her son was into, seeing as she had left him to the care of grandparents and was not living with her son.  No guardian was present when the tragedy took place.  No one wishes to think ill of one's deceased relatives--it is natural to defend them, even if they were not exactly spotless.  Perhaps the child was innocent, but we simply do not know all the facts to be certain of this.

Regardless what he may have been "in to"...no one deserves this, especially not a 14 year old.

 

We know this fact and the only one that matters...a 14 year old was executed. And another, almost so. 

[tandor]

..obviously the MOP who arrived on the scene has seen the assailant who then left on a bike...let's hope he/she can give good information to the investigators.  RIP young man.

[nickmondo]

this country is getting worse every day.

 

[Bangkok Barry]

And this quickly follows on from someone shooting dead three kids who drove into his car. What an appalling land of smiles Thailand has become. What it comes down to is that no-one is safe anywhere, not even kids.

[Aussieroaming]

RIP kid, what a terrible crime. 

 

Maybe the RTP would actually get some evidence if they would get off of their a s s e s and investigated the crime instead of sitting in police HQ waiting for the evidence to magically appear.

[AsianAtHeart]

35 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

Regardless what he may have been "in to"...no one deserves this, especially not a 14 year old.

 

We know this fact and the only one that matters...a 14 year old was executed. And another, almost so. 

No one is saying he deserved to die, least of all me.  I'm not sure why it seems you took it that way.  What came across to me in the OP was the mother's repeated insistence that her son was "a good and lively boy who was never in trouble", "a great kid who never got into trouble", and the article also claimed that "Neither of the boys were ever in trouble and were not mixed up in drugs." 

 

It may be simply that the mother is going through the denial phase of the stages of grief, where she wants to believe that it could not have happened, justifying her denial with telling herself things like this.  It may also be that she is, subconsciously, trying to put out of her mind some of her own suspicions as to the real truth, and therefore making these claims to herself as well as to others.  It may very well be true that the kid was innocent--but, again, we simply do not know what happened or what led to it.

 

We can hope that more of the facts will come to light.  We still do not know, for instance, what the murderer's motive was.  Did he even know the boys?  We do not know, do we? 

 

We have to be careful about prejudging what happened when we don't have these important facts.  That's all I'm saying.

[TKDfella]

My condolences to the family of the dead boy and I hope the other recovers.

I am curious though. If the friend just joined 'Tam' for a ride and it was latter who was 'recognised' (helmets?) then why shoot 'the friend' in the back? In the dark and a case of mistaken identity? Really? Like who for example? 

[Dont confuse me]

This tragic incident is not unique in today's world young kids are regularly victims of gun crime.

A staggering 696 in USA  this year.

In the UK A 9 Yr old girl was recently shot and killed after her mother opened the front door to investigate a disturbance!

 

[Harveyboy]

Sadly after reading reading so many stories on this site over the last 2 weeks  <deleted> is going on its like a bad day in the Bronx...daily murders mostly teen-agers  Needs sorting .LOS..land of slaughter... 

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

Daily News followed up on a disturbing case in Udon Thani in the north east of Thailand when two 14 year old boys on a motorcycle on their way home after playing sports at school were shot.

Thailand the land of smiles.... losing/lost it's crown.

[Andycoops]

Such compassion from the BiB interviewing the parents at their sons funeral. Unbelievable.

RiP young lad.

My sincere condolences to his parents.

[bristolgeoff]

On a motor bike at 14 under age no license or helmet maybe after school or going home.Mistaken id maybe  but  someone was upset to do this