Koh Samui parking dispute leads to violent brawl and gunshots

Koh Samui parking dispute leads to violent brawl, photo by Naewna.

A Koh Samui parking dispute lead to a violent brawl and gunshots on Friday, Thai media reported. This was after two brothers reportedly refused to move their pickup truck so that a man could leave an auto accessories shop.

The two brothers, Phisit and Panuwat, parked their truck in front of the shop just as 47 year old Bunyot was backing his pickup truck out of the shop after getting the air conditioning repaired.

A shop employee asked Phisit and Panuwat to move their truck to make space for Bunyot to leave. But the brothers refused to budge. They got out of their truck, and walked over to Bunyot’s truck with an iron rod, ready to strike him with it.

But Bunyot had a weapon on him. As the angry brothers approached his truck, Bunyot pulled out a handgun and fired three shots. One shot hit Panuwat’s arm. Phisit injured Bunyot by hitting his wrist with the iron rod, and the two brothers then fled the scene.

Bunyot was charged with attempted murder, unauthorised possession of a firearm and ammunition and carrying it in public without reasonable grounds. However, he denied all the charges.

From time to time, parking disputes in Thailand escalate into serious conflicts.

In June last year, a tourist’s car was damaged after he parked in someone else’s usual spot in Chon Buri’s Sri Racha District. The tourist, 29 year old Chutiphong Thongmee, parked his car on Koh Loy island before boarding a ferry to another island. When Chutiphong returned from his day trip, he was horrified to discover that his car was badly scratched, and the tires were deflated.

Chutiphong said that according to locals, the spot where he parked was usually for people who came to drop off shipments and immediately left. He said that similar incidents had happened before on Koh Loy.