5 hurt in Songkran shootings

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A British man and four Thais were hurt when unknown gunmen sprayed bullets instead of water across Pattaya for Songkran.

In two shooting incidents on Soi 8 and near the Tropicana Hotel, Michael Gollop, 66, was grazed in the forehead, Anont Kaewkijkarn, 18, suffered a shot to the arm and a 17-year-old Thai man was shot in the back April 17.

Gollop’s 39-year-old girlfriend, Thanarat Plukmao, said they were enjoying some Songkran revelry when a youth came up to them with a gun, asking who hurt his friend. Shots rang out afterward and Gollop was grazed.

Witness Gin Kasin, 22, said five troublemakers on Honda motorbikes were behind the incident, with the shooter being a passenger on one of the bikes.

It was a busy day for police with another random shooting reported near Suthawas Temple on Soi Nernplabwan.

Chuchai Lhongman, 23, was grazed in the head and a 20-year-old Burmese man identified only as “Tualek” was hit in the hip. They were treated at Chonburi Hospital.

The gunshots were believed to have come from someone firing a gun randomly into the air.