The owners of the Pattaya Klang Shooting Range called Police just after 3pm on Sunday to inform them that a foreigner had shot himself in the head with a rented 9mm handgun.
Medics rushed to the scene and attended to Mr. Jonathan Osborn Koch from South Africa who was taken to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital where doctors were unable to save his life. ‘Opat’, aged 25, was supervising Mr Koch at the time of the shooting and told police that seconds after the firearm arrived and was loaded, Mr. Koch pointed the firearm towards a target situated down the range but then turned the gun in his direction and subsequently shot himself in the side of the head.
Little is known about Mr Koch and Police can only speculate for now why he decided to take his own life.
The South African Embassy in Bangkok are now working with Pattaya Police and a full investigation into the shooting range is now taking place to ensure that the supervisor acted in accordance with regulations pertaining to the operating of a shooting range. The range will remain closed pending the outcome of the investigation.