Thailand’s “popcorn gunman” is out of jail after shooting 8 years ago

A Thai shooter known as the “popcorn gunman,” who killed a person and injured three others in 2014, has been released from jail. The man, Vivat Yodprasit, had shot the four people in Bangkok’s Lak Si district during demonstrations against the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

Vivat became known as the “popcorn gunman” because photos showed him firing from a rifle hidden in a bag of popcorn. He had originally been sentenced to life in prison. After he confessed, he was sentenced in 2016 to 37 years and four months for collaborating to commit murder, and carrying firearms in public.

In 2017, the Appeal Court acquitted him of the charges, but the sentence was then reinstated in 2018. But Vivat has now been released after less than six years in jail.

Vivat had hit four people with his bullets. All were injured, and one died from their injuries seven months later.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post | Thai PBS World