PATTAYA: Four innocent bystanders were injured by ricocheting bullets when a bagman for a Pattaya loan shark opened fire on his mobile phone. Witnesses to the slaying of the mobile phone said the man, identified only as “Woot”, was seen at about 3 am yelling into his mobile phone on the ground floor of Niran Condo on Soi Arunothai. He then hurled the phone down onto the sidewalk, pulled out a .38 pistol and fired six times it at the offending device. Bullets bounced off the stone pavement and flew in every direction. At least four people were hit, including two foreigners; all were eventually taken to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital for treatment. After slaughtering the phone, Woot allegedly turned round and threatened witnesses before fleeing on a motorcycle. The threats were apparently effective, for when police arrived most of the bystanders – of which there were many, despite the late hour, but then this was Pattaya – refused to talk. Police say they know the man’s identity, however, and are in the process of locating him to begin criminal proceedings.
