Four suspected hitmen shot dead in South shootout
FOUR MEN believed to be contract killers were killed in a gunfight yesterday at Don Tanot School in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, police said.
An police investigation is underway to uncover further information about the killings.
At 8:30am, local police were alerted and rushed to the scene, where they came across the dead men lying next to an Isuzu pickup truck on a concrete road near the old meeting hall on the school’s campus.
About 20 spent 9-millimetre, 11mm and 5.56mm cartridges were found nearby.
The dead men were positively identified as Kriengkrai Chumthong, Somchai Homkao, Preecha Iadkaew and Thawat Buathongkham, all from Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The investigation team led by Pol Colonel Weerapol Manmuang, acting deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8, detected traces of rubbed-out cigarettes spread around the area as well as plastic glasses and half a bottle of alcohol.
Marks of another truck were also discovered at the site.
Villagers said they heard the sound of gunfire from the school at about 2am.
Police hypothesised that the gunmen met up to settle a dispute in an isolated area, but failed to do so amicably.
Pol Lt-Colonel Chokdee Srimuang, deputy superintendent of Nakhon Si Thammarat Police Station, said one of the gunmen, Kriengkrai was suspected to be the hired hitman who killed the family of the mayor of Tambon Khao Chumthong two years ago. The case against him was still proceeding in court, he said.
Also, police were told that the murdered gunmen might have been involved with a hired killers’ network in Phatthalung and some other illicit businesses.
