Called to the scene in a boarding house in Sam Kong, Phuket Town, police found 25-year-old Chalermpon Tripak dead on the bed in his room with one shot in the stomach.
Lying dead in a bloody heap next to the door was 25-year-old Saran Chaiyatham, shot in the left side of his chest. (See earlier story here).
Still alive on the bed, but also with a stomach wound, lay Natthapong Keawkuanchum, 25.
The investigators checked the area and found two 9mm bullets and two spent cartridges on the floor of the room, along with a large amount of kratom leaves and drug paraphernalia.
There was also a pool of blood outside the door.
Warankana Wichien, who rents a room in the same building, told police that her husband, 40-year-old Tourist Police Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok, had been shot twice in the right leg, but had already been taken to hospital.
She said that her husband developed the suspicion that the room was being used by drug users, and walked in.
His wife, hearing gunfire, run to see what was happening, and saw her husband slumped outside the room, bleeding. He was taken to hospital and has since been transferred to Haad Yai for repair of a severed femoral artery.
Phuket Police Chief Gen Choti Chavalviwat told The Phuket News that although all the details were not yet clear, SSM Pichai’s gun was the only one found at the scene, indicating he had fired the fatal shots.
Gen Choti added his assurance that all those involved would receive equal treatment and consideration.