Football referee injured in gun attack
Thanom Borikut, a Thai premier league referee, was seriously injured after two assailants fired bullets at him early yesterday as he was making his way to a stadium in Bangkok's Hua Mark district, police said.
As of press time, doctors declared that Thanom, 44, was out of danger, though he was hit by two bullets in the torso and one in his elbow.
Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Camronwit Toopgrajank said a security guard, who witnessed the attack, had testified that the assailants ran away after Thanom pulled out his own pistol to fire at them.
“This proves that Thanom knew he was being targeted and that’s why he carried a gun with him,” the police chief said. He also recounted football fans as saying that Thanom’s decisions often went against others’ beliefs and that he was also allegedly involved in gambling.
Fellow referee Srichot Srikerd, 36, said that before the attack Thanom had woken him up to undergo a physical test before a match in Malaysia. “Our lives hang by a thread nowadays,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Thanom’s wife Paiwan said she had always asked her husband to quit his job but to no avail. Lt-General Chinsen Thongkomol said the Football Association of Thailand has offered Thanom Bt50,000 to cover the medical bills.
