Gunman kills club owner’s brother

PATONG: Eekaphan Hin-on, 37, was shot dead in his brother’s snooker club early yesterday morning by a young gunman. The gunman, identified by police as Somjit Kongton, 20, ran away after the killing, but later that night went to the Kathu Police Station to turn himself in. According to Pol Capt Komdej Pohthong of Kathu Police Station, Eekaphan was talking on a mobile phone while sitting with a few friends inside the Doy Boy Pub, a snooker club in Soi Royal Paradise Complex on Rat-U-Thit Rd. The pub is owned by his youngest brother, Tan Hin-on, 34. At around 1:30 am, Somjit arrived at the pub with three of his friends. He then went inside alone, walked straight up to Eakaphan, pulled out a .38 pistol and fired six times. Two bullets went into Eakaphan’s left cheek, one into his left chest, one into his left groin, and the other two into the wall behind him. Waiters at the bar, along with Eakaphan’s brother, Vitoon Hin-on, 35, rushed the victim to Patong Hospital, but he died on the way. The police said that Vitoon told them, “Somjit and his friends have come to ask for protection money many times since Tan opened the club a year ago. Tan has never paid and many times they’ve come to put pressure on him, messing around with the customers. “It has recently gotten worse, so he [Tan] called him [Eakaphan] in Sukhothai to come down and help him look after the place.” The night of the killing, Tan was not at his pub. Somjit turned himself in at Kathu Police Station at around 10 pm yesterday. He has been charged with murder and is currently being held at the police station.