Street Shootings In Broad Daylight!

[brownbear]

Driving through one of the suburbs of Pattaya recently with my family in the car, we witnessed a shooting. Didn't see much detail other than a handful of youths, one of whom fired what must have been a small calibre (.22 maybe) pistol four times rapidly in succession, some guy picking himself up off the ground and the gang jumping on their bikes and speeding off down the road. We drove on and did not stop; there must have been plenty of witnesses better placed than us. It was mid-afternoon and the incident took place outside of a normal Thai shop-house in a reasonable busy street.

It was upsetting for my family and I have to say it somewhat disturbed me.

Now I know that could happen anywhere but it is the first time I have seen anything like it, anywhere. My wife, however, did see a somewhat dissimilar shooting incident a few months ago that sounded even more frightening involving plain clothed police firing shots in the open road.

Is this something I/we should be worried about or was it just a rare and occasional incident when we were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Anyone else have similar experiences in the LOS?

[Moonrakers]

I never felt particularly safe in Pattaya.

[onnut]

You should of been in Silom a few weeks ago.

[brownbear]

You should of been in Silom a few weeks ago.

On that occasion I had the option of staying out of the area and I exercised it. Not quite the same as a trip to the supermarket with the wife and kids.

[gotlost]

Wrong place wrong time But its getting more and more.

[phetaroi]

I'm not really surprised. Why wouldn't events like street shootings occur more frequently when thugs know that in Thailand no one is really in control.

What did they witness during two months of out-of-control demonstrations?

Was the elected government in control of the situation on the street?

Was the military in control of the situation on the street?

Was the police department in control of the situation on the street?

The answers to all three of the above questions is NO. Nobody was in control of the situation, and as a result over 30 arson fires were set, hand grenades were commonly used, shootings by various people occurred...all without anyone "in charge" being able to stop it. That's getting pretty close to, or even crossing the line of, anarchy.

So exactly why should criminals be very afraid of getting caught and brought to justice?

[moe666]

  When ever you have gangs you will have this sort of activity. Even in a country like the US you have these gang related shootings. The police cannot be on every street at every min. of the day, I still feel safer in Thailand.

[GuestHouse]

If you watch the Thai language news, or read the Thai language press, you'll learn that shootings are an almost daily occurrence in Pattaya.

While not a shooting, the worst violence I've seen in Pattaya was a gang of youths attacking each other with knives, baseball bats and at least one machete, in broad daylight right outside of Royal Garden Plaza.

[Phil Conners]

  When ever you have gangs you will have this sort of activity. Even in a country like the US you have these gang related shootings. The police cannot be on every street at every min. of the day, I still feel safer in Thailand.

"Even"? I think they invented those things with their silly gun laws and all.

[anothertorres]

hey, Fear, long time no see!

[simon43]

About 4 years ago, when I was standing at a bar on NaiYang Beach in Phuket, a chap got off a motorbike, walked up to the tourist information booth next door to the bar, and shot the Thai lady who was manning that booth straight through the forehead. Then he calmly got back on his motorbike and rode away.

It transpired that this lady had been 'playing around' with the husband of another woman, and this was the retribution.

I understand that no charges were ever placed against the other woman.

Although this was a very public killing, one should be aware that such revenge/jealousy killings are rather common amongst the Thai community. We foreigners tend not to be exposed to this violence, but it is there.

Simon

[mark45y]

Why would you not post this in the Pattaya forum. Someone else may have seen the shooting also. And I would think Pattaya people would like to know where it happened. What street? What day?

[markwhite]

I was sat in an internet cafe opposite Hat Yai bus station a couple of visa-runs ago, heard a quick 4 pops in succession on the street and my first thought was that it was a gun. I have no prior experience of these things. Went outside and it looked like someone had drove by on a motorsai, shot down a young man in his 20s, and rode off. He was lying in a pool of blood, his friend was very upset. A crowd gathered, the police came, an older woman arrived later and got *very* upset, and over the next hour or so people slowly drifted away until there was just some newspapers on the floor soaking up the blood.