British male tourist commits suicide at Phuket shooting range

[kiwikeith]

Ive noticed that an increasing number of young people are killing thesmelves in Thailand.

The western world has never been so affluent. Wages and salaries are very high ( except usa) and opportunities abound.

No young generation in world history has had it so good as this current one. .... born after 1985

Most Australian people born in the early eighties wouldnt know what a recession is.

Why are westerners killing themselves?

It is all tumbling down in the western world with Madame Mercal and the austerity gangsters, no jobs in Aussie no Jobs in Kiwi, the middle east is a nightmare.

Unfortunately there seems to be an increasing amount of suicides in the LOS an article I read a while back said that Thailand attracts a high rate of dysfunctional falungs.

In most western countries suicide goes unreported by the media but I have heard the the current government in NZ has the highest rate of suicide ever.

Rip to the poor man who took his own life.

[pitrevie]

well, lets say, gladly, he did not target other people before he took his own life

next farang visitor will have to sign a waiver : I WILL NOT KILL MESELF , sign here

10 years ago , I was at a Phuket shooting range. The guy from the range was standing 2 meter beside me.

It takes only a second to put the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. A waiver , would not help much.

Quick , easy and efficient way to go , if you have the balls for it.

I would be more concerned about it only taking a few seconds for him to turn the gun in my direction and pulling the trigger.

[KarenBravo]

Have had too many friends who wanted to live, but, died anyway, to have much sympathy with suicides.

[BuaBS]

well, lets say, gladly, he did not target other people before he took his own life

next farang visitor will have to sign a waiver : I WILL NOT KILL MESELF , sign here

10 years ago , I was at a Phuket shooting range. The guy from the range was standing 2 meter beside me.

It takes only a second to put the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. A waiver , would not help much.

Quick , easy and efficient way to go , if you have the balls for it.

I would be more concerned about it only taking a few seconds for him to turn the gun in my direction and pulling the trigger.

Why would a person going to a shooting range to end his life , shoot at a stranger who happens to be there? Doesn't make sense.

If he has a gun OUTSIDE of the shooting range , he could make his ending more useful by taking out a banker or polititian, lawyer,...

[pitchag]

11mm????? What a strange Caliber for a pistol, usually associated with a rifle. That Caliber went out with the Ark.

It's a .45 in inches

[Toknarok]

Have had too many friends who wanted to live, but, died anyway, to have much sympathy with suicides.

Although there are many organisations that try to assist suicidal people, there are many that are not sympathetic to those that actually try and fail. I refer in particular to medical personnel who have to treat attempted suicides in hospital. Every day they treat people who desperately want to live but die anyway, many don't have much sympathy for those that try and fail to end their lives. Sad but true.

[webfact]

Thai police probe death of Briton who killed himself at firing range

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thai police said on Monday they were investigating the death of a British tourist who shot himself dead at a firing range on the resort island of Phuket.

Officers are examining CCTV footage from the Thalang Shooting Range on Phuket which appears to show the Briton standing alongside a staff member before turning the gun on himself Saturday afternoon.

The visibly distraught employee is seen walking away from the scene holding his head in his hands.

"We are investigating the CCTV images. We have not yet concluded whether it was an accident or suicide," said police Colonel Chanuchan Chonsuwat of Thalang district on the popular resort island, confirming the death.

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Bangkok said it was aware of the incident and providing consular assistance to the family. The spokesman could not immediately provide any further details.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-03-23

[NeverSure]

So Sad. RIP

BTW it isn't .11 but rather 11 mm.

more likely 11.43mm, a .45 cal

In actual parlance, a .45 would be lumped into the 11 mm group. There are lots of guns in that group. There are a couple of guns called 11 mm but that's not likely to be used. Because of one article mentioning 45 I guessed at the .45 ACP because it's so common.

One of the reasons it interested me was because as opposed to a 9 mm Parabellum (9 mm NATO) a .45 kicks really hard compared to the 9. If he never handled a handgun before I would have given him a 9 mm.

I wondered if inexperience allowed him to be quizzical about it and absent mindedly point it at himself.

[Enoon]

11mm????? What a strange Caliber for a pistol, usually associated with a rifle. That Caliber went out with the Ark.

It's a .45 in inches

I'm not an expert but maybe it's this gun, made famous by "Dirty Harry" and, I believe, popular at "tourist" ranges for that reason:

Smith & Wesson Model 29 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notice that although it is chambered for a .44 cartridge the bullet calibre is .429 (10.9mm). To be precise it's 10.8966mm. That sounds a lot closer to 11mm doesn't it?

"The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum (10.9×33mmR), is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, all guns chambered for the .44 Magnum case, and its parent case, the .44 Special, use bullets of approximately 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter.^[3]"

The gun is still in production as the 629.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Enoon

[smotherb]

So Sad. RIP

BTW it isn't .11 but rather 11 mm.

more likely 11.43mm, a .45 cal

In actual parlance, a .45 would be lumped into the 11 mm group. There are lots of guns in that group. There are a couple of guns called 11 mm but that's not likely to be used. Because of one article mentioning 45 I guessed at the .45 ACP because it's so common.

One of the reasons it interested me was because as opposed to a 9 mm Parabellum (9 mm NATO) a .45 kicks really hard compared to the 9. If he never handled a handgun before I would have given him a 9 mm.

I wondered if inexperience allowed him to be quizzical about it and absent mindedly point it at himself.

I doubt pointing it at himself would be inexperience, unless he was some naive child. I would think it was more likely intentional. He did fire several rounds and had asked for more ammo, did h not?.

[balo]

This is the clearest evidence of suicide you'll ever find in Thailand. And it's all in the CCTV video that was released.

[SOTIRIOS]

...the video shows him laughing with the attendant...then pointing the gun at himself...???

...and now they are not sure if it was an accident...???

...not very reassuring....

[TPI]

So Sad. RIP

BTW it isn't .11 but rather 11 mm.

No! It's a .45 calibre, only in Thailand would anybody call it an 11mm! Look up the power of a 10mm and you will understand!

[KarenBravo]

Is discussing the size of the instrument of his death really appropriate under the circumstances?

[EnglishJohn]

I saw this on the BBC news website and it seemed like they really wanted it to reflect negatively on Thailand. The headline was 'Briton dead at Thai shooting range' when all the other news sites called it suicide.

Sometimes I get the feeling the BBC has some political agenda against Thailand, particularly Mr Head who omits many key facts which don't fit in with the impression he wants to create.

[LivinginKata]

Way off topic posts being removed.

[cookee68]

This has happened several times in Thailand now, anybody can go to a range and shoot a gun, I have been many times, lucky the so called person he was arguing with before hand did not go as well, or the out come could have been even more deaths. so young what ever his problems were. its a terrible ending,

[smotherb]

Is discussing the size of the instrument of his death really appropriate under the circumstances?

Karen, the issue is terminology. The dimensions discussed are the diameter of the projectile or the interior diameter of the bore of the barrel. Caliber is an inch-based measure, while millimeter is metric. A pistol in 11mm is not a usual nomenclature, it would be more likely to be a .44 caliber or a .45 caliber--.44/.45 of an inch or 10.9mm/11.43mm.

[connda]

Phuket:- A 21-year-old Briton turned a pistol on himself and was killed inside a shooting range in Phuket’s Thalang district Saturday afternoon, police said.

Pol Lt Kraisorn Boonprasop, an interrogator of Thalang police station, identified the man as Colven Liam.

He was shot once at his right temple with a .45mm automatic pistol. The bullet pieced through his left temple.

Kraisorn was alerted of the shooting incident at 3:45 pm at the Thalang shooting gallery.

Police took the gun powder trace from his hand and the spent shells at the scene for further investigation.

Kraisorn said police checked the footage of security cameras in the gallery and saw Liam carrying a bag and walking into the shooting range.

He then walked to a shooting corner where Navin Inparn, 36, was supervising. Liam then took off his shirt and placed it on his bag.

He emptied seven bullets loaded by Navin into a paper target. All the shots hit the target. After Navi reloaded the gun and handed it to Liam, he raised it to his temple and fired, the video footage showed.

A horrified Navin then ran for help from other officials at the range.

Navin later told police that Liam asked him to reload the gun with just three bullets. When he saw Liam raised the gun to his head, Navin was startled and tried to push it away but he could not react in time.

Prasert Pasaman, 47, a taxi driver, said he picked up Liam from a hotel on Bangthao beach in Thalang.

Prasert said Liam did not appear under tension while riding the taxi.

Source: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/810818-british-tourist-shoots-himself-at-shooting-range/

-- © thaivisa.com

45 cal to the head. Dude when out light a light. I feel for Mr. Navin. That's totally got to suck. RIP to the deceased.

[mick01827]

Ive noticed that an increasing number of young people are killing thesmelves in Thailand.

The western world has never been so affluent. Wages and salaries are very high ( except usa) and opportunities abound.

No young generation in world history has had it so good as this current one. .... born after 1985

Most Australian people born in the early eighties wouldnt know what a recession is.

Why are westerners killing themselves?

Money doesn't bring happiness and a lot of people in the west do not know how to manage money which is why there is so much debt and with that debt comes pressures and problems, I'm not saying this is why the chap killed himself just putting a point across, monks areas a classic example, a true monk owns minimal poccessions but is truly fulfilled with his life.

[redandyellow]

Shirtless!! What's with these people, I just read about the French jumper being shirtless as well. Can some one with psychological experience tell us/me why people experiencing problems have to undress before self harm.

OK, probably callous but ever so common amongst Farang here in Thailand.

Why do you care?

signed,

Useless trivia

[redandyellow]

Have had too many friends who wanted to live, but, died anyway, to have much sympathy with suicides.

Yes indeed , but they didn't know your friends very well, did they?

Signed,

small sample size

[redandyellow]

This is the clearest evidence of suicide you'll ever find in Thailand. And it's all in the CCTV video that was released.

You win the BIG award for stating the totally obvious.

Congratulations Sir,

Make sure to pick up your prize at the front door, WELL before you leave the party tonight.

BTW, I have a few spiders that need their legs pulled out..on general principal of course

[redandyellow]

I saw this on the BBC news website and it seemed like they really wanted it to reflect negatively on Thailand. The headline was 'Briton dead at Thai shooting range' when all the other news sites called it suicide.

Sometimes I get the feeling the BBC has some political agenda against Thailand, particularly Mr Head who omits many key facts which don't fit in with the impression he wants to create.

It would be hard to put a positive spin on it, especially for the extended family..

[andreandre]

Is discussing the size of the instrument of his death really appropriate under the circumstances?

Karen, the issue is terminology. The dimensions discussed are the diameter of the projectile or the interior diameter of the bore of the barrel. Caliber is an inch-based measure, while millimeter is metric. A pistol in 11mm is not a usual nomenclature, it would be more likely to be a .44 caliber or a .45 caliber--.44/.45 of an inch or 10.9mm/11.43mm.

[NCFC]

I saw this on the BBC news website and it seemed like they really wanted it to reflect negatively on Thailand. The headline was 'Briton dead at Thai shooting range' when all the other news sites called it suicide.

Sometimes I get the feeling the BBC has some political agenda against Thailand, particularly Mr Head who omits many key facts which don't fit in with the impression he wants to create.

Until there is an inquest to confirm the cause of death, the BBC headline is the most accurate under the circumstances. Which key facts did the BBC leave out of this particular story?

[poweratradio]

...the video shows him laughing with the attendant...then pointing the gun at himself...???

...and now they are not sure if it was an accident...???

...not very reassuring....

Horseplay death then???? To bad so sad. Lets move on........

[LivinginKata]

PG article worth a read No further safety measures

[LivinginKata]

PG article worth a read No further safety measures

[Fookhaht]

One of the things to remember is that once the decision has been made to end their life, most suicide victims become much happier. They do see an end to their suffering and this means they may not exhibit some of the signs we associate with being suicidal.

Scott, I'm interested in your knowledge connected with this incident and particularly interested in the quoted comment.

How do you know this? Study, observation or something else?

Btw, my inquiry carries no negativity or bias. I agree completely with your observations and, macabre though it may be, I have a fascination with suicide.

As for the young man killing himself. At 21, a waste of a young life, but to be clear headed enough to go to a gun range, test the weapon and then turn it on himself, he clearly wanted out. It's also quite possible he came to Thailand specifically for this reason.

Over the years, I have counseled a number of young people on the verge of suicide. By my own observation, I concur with Scott's comment.