Attackers shoot car of journalist covering police trading of posts
UNKNOWN assailants sprayed a journalist’s Honda CRV with bullets yesterday morning while it was parked outside his home in Bangkok’s Thon Buri district.
Chatchai Suksomneuk, 56, whose beat covers the Royal Thai Police head office for Pim Thai newspaper and also for Japan’s NHK agency, was unharmed.
After learning of the shooting at 7am, Bukkhalo Police Station superintendent Pol Colonel Jinnawat Konthong inspected the car and found six bullet holes in the chassis and five in the windshield. Investigators also collected four slugs from the scene.
Chatchai told police that he had returned home on Monday evening from a funeral and only heard about the gunshots when a motorcycle taxi driver, who had come by to fix Chatchai’s bicycle, alerted him.
The journalist said it was clear his car had been targeted, although he added that he did not have disputes with anyone and his news reports were always based on facts. He added that most of his reports about the police bureau were positive and could not have been the cause of the attack.
Meanwhile, acting Metro-politan Police chief Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn said the assailants had shot at the car with a .22 pistol from five metres away. Since Chatchai insists that he does not have outstanding conflicts with anyone, investigators said they would look into other possible causes such as previous threats or a case of mistaken identity.
A source said Chatchai was among reporters who have covered reported delays and mistakes in police transfers as well as rumours of police posts being traded, which could have contributed to the shooting.
After attending a police meeting on the case, Sanit revealed that CCTV in the neighbourhood had captured images of a suspicious car, whose type and model will be revealed later. He said police had not ruled out any possible motives yet, be it personal or workrelated.
A source said that CCTV images in the neighbourhood had shown a white car stopping near the journalist’s home at about 2.30am and the window on the left in the back being rolled down to reveal an object that looked like a pistol, which appeared to light up 10 times. This took less than a minute before the car fled the scene.
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