Video credit: Video via Phuket TV.
Apichet Chuklieng, a bartender from the Novotel in Patong, was shot dead about 7pm when he went to the shop with his wife Sawika Chansawat. She was not hurt. She described her husband as an “ex-soldier who liked to help people”.
The robbery itself took just 30 seconds but staff said they had noticed a man hanging around outside the shop for about 20 minutes. When a foreigner who was in the shop left, the man walked in and pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the six staff, announcing, “This is a robbery. If you run I will shoot you.”
Mr Apichet walked over and told the robber, who was behind the counter, to calm down. The robber shot him in the chest.
The robber then went along the counter, grabbing gold necklaces and bracelets together worth around B2 million and stuffing them into a shoulder bag.
As the robber left the shop, Tesco security personnel, having heard the shot, moved in on him. But he scared them off with a shot in the air before driving away on a blue and black Honda Wave.