Man killed in Samkong shooting
PHUKET CITY: Police are investigating the murder of a man killed by two shotgun blasts near his shack in Samkong early yesterday morning.
Pol Maj Pitakpol Sompong of the Phuket City Police told the Gazette that the wife of 40-year-old Rungroj Saekui reported finding her husband dead outside their unnumbered shack off Soi Samkong 1 at about 2 am yesterday.
The wife, whose name was not disclosed, told police she felt ill and went to sleep at about 8 pm the night before, just as her husband was going out to look after his chickens as usual.
She told police she thought she heard what sounded like gunfire about 10 minutes later, but didn’t go out to investigate.
When she awoke at about 2 am and wondered why her husband was not by her side, she went out to find him dead and screamed for help, police reported her as saying.
When police arrived at the scene, which is inaccessible by car, they found Khun Rungroj dead of two shotgun blasts to the pelvis. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers took the body to Vachira Phuket Hospital for examination and two 12-gauge shells were recovered as evidence, he said.
Police have dismissed initial speculation that the murder may have been motivated by a land dispute.
They questioned landowner Kanchana Na Ranong, who told them her family had given Rungroj permission to occupy the land back in 1983 and that he had lived there ever since without incident, he said.
The Na Ranongs are a family of wealthy Phuket landowners whose business interests include ownership of the Pearl Group of Companies and its flagship resort the Indigo Pearl in Nai Yang.
“I don’t think the killer was a professional. I suspect the victim knew his assailant and was probably having a conversation with him when the shots were fired from a distance of less than two meters,” Maj Pitakpol said.
The victim was known to enjoy drinking whiskey at his doorway, but had given up alcohol for the three-month Buddhist Lent that began in mid-July, he said.
The victim’s wife told police her husband never had any problems with anybody, he added.
Police are still questioning other suspects in the case, he said.
