Picture from responders.

 

A 51-year-old man was shot dead outside his home in Krabi province late on the night of 12 April in what police suspect was a targeted ambush. The assailant, or assailants, are believed to have lain in wait in a nearby oil palm plantation before opening fire with a shotgun.

 

Police from Lam Thap Police Station, along with medical staff and rescue workers, were called to the scene in Lam Thap subdistrict. The victim, identified as Mr Karun, was found kneeling face down in a pool of blood behind his partially constructed, single-storey concrete house. His body showed dozens of wounds to the head and torso caused by shotgun pellets. Several spent shotgun shells of different sizes were recovered at the scene.

 

Police believe the killer knew the victim’s daily routine. According to initial findings, Mr Karun would regularly visit a nearby community leader’s house in the evening before returning home around 21:00. On the night of the murder, it is believed a gunman may have called out to the victim from behind the house. When he went to check, the attacker opened fire, shooting him multiple times before fleeing under the cover of darkness into the plantation.

 

Mr Karun lived alone at the house, which was still under construction. His wife and children stayed at another home nearby.

 

Ms Ubon, the victim’s 48-year-old sister, who lives in an adjacent house, told police she heard two loud gunshots around the time of the murder. At first, she and her husband assumed someone might have been shooting at dogs. However, moments later, they heard more gunfire, two shots followed by three in quick succession. Alarmed, she called her sister-in-law and together they went to investigate, only to find Mr Karun dead behind the house.

 

Ms Arthityaphan, the victim’s 47-year-old wife, said her husband had been slowly building the house over time and preferred to sleep there alone while continuing the work. She was alerted by her sister-in-law, who had heard the gunshots.

 

She rushed to the house and found the front door shut but the rear door open. There she discovered her husband’s lifeless body. She said her husband had not been in conflict with anyone recently and had focused on his farming work. An old affair from over ten years ago had long since been resolved, and she doubted it was related to the killing.

 

She urged police to thoroughly investigate the case and swiftly bring the perpetrator to justice. Police continue to search for suspects and are examining whether the murder was linked to personal conflict or other motives.

 

-- 2025-04-14

 

 

UPDATE
Krabi Political Murder: Three Arrested in Local Power Struggle Killing