Dentistry student held for shooting at tourists

[EyesWideOpen]

So what is the lesson to be learned here ?? If you have a conflict with a Thai with a bunch of friends, no problem, they will simply kick you half to death, you wake up in the hospital, and then you move on with your life. If you have a conflict with a single Thai, it seems the loss of face involved is too overwhelming for the guy, so have to resort to blasting people with a gun to make things right again...

As this story progresses, it will be interesting to see how well connected his family is. If no connections, off to jail for putting a severe dent in the tourism image of Thailand. If big connections, he will walk the same as the Red Bull maggot....

Edited June 23, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[xenophon]

What are the odds on the foreign boyfriend being charged with assault and, possibly, causing the deaths and, of course, damage to the restaurant

[EyesWideOpen]

What are the odds on the foreign boyfriend being charged with assault and, possibly, causing the deaths and, of course, damage to the restaurant

Probably crossed the minds of the local police, but probably even they realized that would be a bit weak. If you were a farang sitting in a restaurant hitting on the girlfriend of a Thai girl, and a fight broke out, I can assure you the Thai man would not be charged......

[Nowisee]

Drunk people don't have a brain to realize consequences for what they're about to do.

It could have been much worse with several fatalities.

IF you feel compelled to play hero for your girlfriend, at least follow dumbasses like Mr Dental to their car and make sure they are unable to return with guns blazing.

[NongKhaiKid]

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

I wonder what nationality she is. Did anyone see if the press mentioned.

Burmese? Chinese? Russian? Lisu?

How exactly would a foreigner waitress be working in a Chiang Mai restaurant???

Last I heard, the government wasn't exactly handing out work permits to foreigners for waitress work..

I not to sure which story is correct but checking other news sources it doesn't say the waitress was a foreigner only her boyfriend.

[BarryM]

Police arrived at 2am. He "allowed them" to search his house at 3am

What s joke of a country

[venturalaw]

Loss of face = cultural defect.

Yep. Probably raised by a wealthy family which in Thailand translates into getting everything he wants since infancy, i.e. spoiled all to Hell. So when he is out in the real world (without mommy's tit and daddy's wallet) and doesn't receive that to which he's been bred to believe he is entitled, he reacts like a little boy. When are 'hi so' ignorantly doting parents ever going to learn?

Children of wealthy families in many other countries often exhibit the same symptoms, do they not?

No single nationality has a monopoly on human faults. I doubt your country is any different.

I did not say Thailand alone is plagued by this issue, did I? However in Thailand their is seemingly a higher percentage of homicides committed due to 'losing face' compared to Western countries.

[Emdog]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

[BradinAsia]

And once again, Thailand is named TOP WORLD DESTINATION for tourists! Do people have a death wish or what?

Does that make any sense at all?

Although I agree this shooting incident was immensely stupid, it's the first shooting

I've heard about in Chiang Mai this year. And no one was killed.

I used to live in Chicago -- fatal shootings every night -- for even flimsier reasons.

Like shooting and killing someone over a pin-ball game. (Note: pinball machine's

can't do boom-boom.)

All cities are composed of humans. Humans the world over are famous for getting

drunk and doing stupid things.

Why should Chiang Mai be any different from your home town or mine?

Edited June 23, 2013 by BradinAsia

[Espen]

The main real crime has been missed here. How did a mentally unstable person like this "student" get a gun. Who provided the gun? Why isn't the gun provider under investigation.

The plot thickens. Did the gun come from a police source? If it was a police issue gun I expect there will be no action against the officer who supplied the gun.

How many people in Thailand have illegal weapons and why are they not investigated as soon as it becomes known?

There are lots of guns in circulation in Thailand old and new they actually share guns so if they think they need a gun they can borrow one from someone i have seen this myself .

Shocking.

I had some problems with some guys and my thai uncle came to my house with an old gun of his and offered me to borrow it for a while lol

I don`t think he has a licence for it either.

[pisico]

He should have done what most Thai men do when they lose face, bring back 25 of his friends.

Indeed! Thus diluting the blame for attempted murder.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

at take a look at the per capital gun homicide rate in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Hopefully it's gotten a lot better later. This issue has been debated many times on TV...

[MaxLee]

Most Thai people from a rich and powerful family, have the license to kill without borders and with no regards to human life...

Edited June 23, 2013 by MaxLee

[mervyn yap]

The considerate thing would have been for him to murder the foreign boyfriend by whom he had been assaulted. No need to involve innocent bystanders.

Maybe those guys laugh at him when he was assaulted.That makes him lost even more face.

[Espen]

The considerate thing would have been for him to murder the foreign boyfriend by whom he had been assaulted. No need to involve innocent bystanders.

Maybe those guys laugh at him when he was assaulted.That makes him lost even more face.

Are you seriously trying to defend that guy?

[monkeycountry]

Importing Bangkokians has this effect on our usually peacefull city.... ;-)

Peaceful city? Isn't it the home of Chiang Mai 51 and other violent red shirt groups who beat up anyone not wearing red?

[monkeycountry]

No DUI charge?

[PoodMaiDai]

Oh wow, what a surprise, another cowardly Thai boy who can't do anything without either a weapon or a gang of friends.

He'll pay his fine, grease a few palms, say he is sorry, and he'll be back to the good life in no time at all.

[bangkokheat]

but it was only a little gun

[Payboy]

And he didn't mean to hurt anyone.

[antfish]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

at take a look at the per capital gun homicide rate in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Hopefully it's gotten a lot better later. This issue has been debated many times on TV...

that stats seems to be totally off and wrong.

[Briggsy]

This sounds like a very spoilt 28-year-old going on six and a half whose tantrums have always led to acquiescence by his parents, older relatives and anyone else he can boss around, threaten, hit, shoot and bully.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed, this is not about the M45 or the USMC.

[theblether]

At the risk of being controversial, how about the clown farang that assaulted him in the first place? Did he not know that never ends well in Thailand?

There's far too many complete and utter clowns wandering around CM, there was a serious fight between tourists at Jack's Van at 4.00 this morning. That's only one of three incidents of complete farang stupidity I've seen in the last two nights.

The place is getting over run by morons.

[Dr Strange]

At the risk of being controversial, how about the clown farang that assaulted him in the first place? Did he not know that never ends well in Thailand?

There's far too many complete and utter clowns wandering around CM, there was a serious fight between tourists at Jack's Van at 4.00 this morning. That's only one of three incidents of complete farang stupidity I've seen in the last two nights.

The place is getting over run by morons.

Can you us tell what you did in other 2 incidents? Interested knowing

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

at take a look at the per capital gun homicide rate in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Hopefully it's gotten a lot better later. This issue has been debated many times on TV...

that stats seems to be totally off and wrong.

Do a search in TV. It's been debated a bunch of threads and you can make up your own mind.

Basically Thailand has 1/6 the population of the US.

So for example let's say there are 10k deaths of this or that... To compare it to the US rate then multiply by six and compare.

If one believes X number of deaths to traffic in Thailand are 20k then 20K times 6 =120k.. That is a lot higher than the US.

Whatever your opinion on the exact numbers in Thailand I doubt you come away thinking the traffic or gun homicide rate in Thailand is low.

[PaullyW]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

at take a look at the per capital gun homicide rate in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Hopefully it's gotten a lot better later. This issue has been debated many times on TV...

that stats seems to be totally off and wrong.

Do a search in TV. It's been debated a bunch of threads and you can make up your own mind.

Basically Thailand has 1/6 the population of the US.

So for example let's say there are 10k deaths of this or that... To compare it to the US rate then multiply by six and compare.

If one believes X number of deaths to traffic in Thailand are 20k then 20K times 6 =120k.. That is a lot higher than the US.

Whatever your opinion on the exact numbers in Thailand I doubt you come away thinking the traffic or gun homicide rate in Thailand is low.

We might also anticipate that statistics gathering, reporting and/or police work is not nearly as good in Thailand as it is in countries like the US. The stats for Thailand might indeed therefore be far higher even than we think. Surely they know this and have a tourism reputation to keep up to speed.

[Andre0720]

May Buddha help Thais,,

Education does not seem to help...

[Dr Strange]

May Buddha help Thais,,

Education does not seem to help...

May wrong here be. But cannot think of other country where high violence is between rivalry of colleges

[catweazle]

Come on guys, stop the bashing! We should have some respect for that little dentistry student prick since after all he did the shooting by himself and did not hire a "muew phuen" hit man to do the shooting for him.

Sorry for joking about this, but I simply could not help it...

What a mess - flushing your whole life down the toilet for a brawl about a rejective waitress... I would feel sorry for the parents who paid his school and all if I would not be convinced that they did their part in letting this tragedy happen by bringing up a spoiled "Hi So" brat that has no respect and sentiment for/towards anything or anyone, except himself.

Hoping for a full recovery for all victims and that justice will be served.