VIDEO: Thieves mess with the wrong gold shop owner in northern Thailand

Four thieves attempted to rob a gold shop at gunpoint yesterday in the Mueang district of Tak province in northern Thailand. Turns out the gold shop owner is a shooting competition champion.

At 12.55pm, a gang of thieves shot through Yaowarat gold shop’s glass shopfront and let themselves in. As one of the robbers tried to cut through the steel bars with a grinding wheel, 41 year old shop owner Phisit Raphitphan fired one gunshot, causing the thieves to flee the scene empty-handed. One of them slipped on the broken glass.

Phisit fired four more shots. The final shot hit one of the assailants as he tried to flee on a motorbike. He fell to the ground. Police found him lying in a pool of blood outside the gold shop.

He was seriously injured and taken to Somdet Prachao Taksin Maharat Hospital for treatment. He was later transferred to a hospital in Phitsanulok province. Although, some media outlets rumoured that he died in hospital.

Another assailant fled on foot. He was caught and arrested in an alley nearby by officers from Mueang Tak Police Station.

The remaining two thieves escaped on a motorbike and are still at large. Police say they think they are Burmese nationals and may have already attempted to cross over the border into Myanmar via a natural channel. CCTV captured their faces clearly.

Police say the injured Thai man and the arrested Thai man robbed a gold shop in Phop Phra district in Tak province on February 12 this year, stealing 182 baht of gold.

Major Kitti Kerdphon, a soldier of the Royal Thai Army and shooting range instructor, told reporters that gold shop owner Phisit is trained in using firearms. He said that Phisit is a gun enthusiast and first came to the shooting range with his wife over eight years ago. Since then he has regularly practised at the shooting range.

Phisit later entered and won a shooting contest in Tak province.

Famous lawyer Decha Kittiwittayanan said that Phisit’s use of a shotgun was a legitimate use of his rights because the assailants attempted to steal his gold at gunpoint. The five shots fired by Phisit were in self-protection, said Decha.

Netizens are impressed with Phisit’s John Wick-style shotgun, which apparently costs over 100,000 baht.