Phuket bus shooter kills himself during stand-off with police
The former army conscript who opened fire on a public bus in Phuket province on Friday morning, shot himself dead after a stand-off that lasted five hours, police said.
Nawin (surname withheld) injured two passengers when he began shooting shortly after the bus left Phuket’s bus terminal in Mueang district for Phatthalung province.
The bus stopped after the incident and its passengers rushed out of it. The injured were later sent to hospital. Nawin remained on the bus.
Police said they did not know why he fired his gun. He remained on the bus as more than 30 armed police officers surrounded it.
Police escorted his aunt and grandmother to the scene in an attempt to persuade him to surrender.
Five hours after he first opened fire, he turned his pistol on himself and fired his last shot.
A letter he wrote by hand was later found in his pocket. “Don’t worry. I will have a new life and will leave my future to chance. I will not come home again,” it read.
Nawin had been a conscript with the rank of private in the Third Infantry Battalion in the southern border province of Pattani.
He was discharged from military service in May last year after serving three years. He had served two years of compulsory service and an additional year voluntarily.
He was being treated for mental health problems, family members said.
