CHON BURI: Two women – a Thai and a Chinese – were wounded in a gun attack on their car in Pattaya in the early hours of Friday, as police believed the injured were wrongly targeted.
The attack occurred at the entrance of Soi Chalernprakiat 4/1 in Bang Lamung district, said Pol Col Thanapong Photi, chief of Pattaya police, who was reported around 2.10am.
Upon arriving at the scene, police and forensic officers found a black Mercedes Benz with Bangkok licence plates parked there with traces of bullets on its doors, side mirrors, and body. The officers also found blood stains inside the car and on the road surface. Six cartridges and a bullet were also found inside the car. The two wounded women were sent to Pattaya Memorial Hospital before the officers arrived.
One of the victims, Nippawan Wola, 26, sustained a gunshot wound through both cheeks, while the other victim, Li Xinying, 24, was shot in the left wrist.
Employees at Ying Club, a nearby pub, told police that a group of teenagers had a quarrel with some South Korean tourists inside the venue before the shooting. The employees had intervened during the altercation.
After the pub closed around 2am, a car carrying the South Koreans involved in the quarrel and another car carrying the two women left the venue and went in separate directions. The teenagers also drove off and headed in the same direction as the victims’ car. Several rounds of gunshots were then heard.
Police suspected that the attackers might have mistakenly targeted the victims’ car.
Police believed the attackers might have opened fire at the wrong car. Teams of officers examined footage of surveillance cameras to track them down.
Police and forensic officers inspect the scene of the gun attack in Pattaya, Chon Buri province, on Friday. (Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong)