Patong Police have confirmed that Nattapong Nachom, 34, has been taken into custody on an arrest warrant issued by Phuket Provincial Court on Friday (Aug 4).
Nattapong has confessed to the charges against, police said.
Under the arrest warrant Nattapong faces charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, carrying a firearm in a public area without reasonable cause and discharging a firearm in a public area, police confirmed.
Nattapong was returned to the scene of the crime on Saturday afternoon to re-enact the shooting. He was under heavy armed guard during the public display.
The shooting, near the intersection of Petchkut Rd and 50 Pi Rd in the hills at the southern end of Patong, saw Nuttawut Hemra, 20, from Trang, and Jirawat Santirak, 20, registered as living in Ratsada, rushed to Patong Hospital with gunshot wounds.
Nuttawut had been shot in his right leg and Jirawat had been shot in his left hand. Both are in care at Patong Hospital.
Police confirmed on Friday that two suspects present for the shooting had been taken into custody for questioning. They were named as Chalermchon Atsorn, 37, registered as living in Srisoonthorn, and Sukanya Suwannoi, 28, from Nong Khai.
Four others in a black Honda sedan seen leaving the scene of the shooting, were involved in the attack, including Nattapong, police said.
According to Patong Police the incident began when a man named Patcharadanai Kingchampa contacted a woman named Sukanya Saksri via Facebook and asked her to pay B3,000, police explained.
Sukanya, registered as living on 50 Pi Rd, was in the black Honda sedan at the time of the shooting.
What the B3,000 was supposed to be payment so far has not been explained by police.
The demand for payment led to Sukanya and her colleagues, including Nattapong, being “dissatisfied”, police said.
The group went to the rented room on 50 Pi Rd where Patcharadanai lives. He was home, but refused to open the door. The group tried to force open the door, but failed, police reported.
Patcharadanai called his brother, Panthakarn Kingchampa, who soon arrived at the room with about seven friends.
However, the group attempting to enter the room had a firearm. They threatened Panthakarn and his friends, and took Panthakarn away in the black Honda car.
While driving off, a person used the firearm to shoot at Panthakarn’s friends, injuring Nuttawut and Jirawat, police said. The shooter is now confirmed to have been Nattapong.
Panthakarn was later let out of the car in front of Vachira Phuket Hospital unharmed.