The man, Chitnupong Kherjan from Karon, was shot dead in his vehicle near the Tonhorm Restaurant on Srisoonthon Rd in Cherng Talay, at around 1:30am. (See story here.)
At 1:30am this morning (Sept 18), Cherng Talay Police were notified that officers had shot dead a man in front of the Tonhorm Restaurant on Srisoonthon Rd after he had fled a police checkpoint in Phuket Town.
Col Serm Krannumit of the Cherng Talay Police together with other officers and a doctor from Thalang Hospital arrived at the scene to find a grey Phuket-registered Isuzu D-Max pickup truck crashed into the curb.
Inside the vehicle was the body of Chitnupong who was registered as living on Soi Patak 12 in Karon. He was bleeding heavily from the nose.
Inside the vehicle on the driver’s seat police found a .357 revolver with six bullets inside. They also found a homemade gun with one .38 caliber bullet inside, five .45 caliber bullets and a further six .357 bullets.
Police took all evidence away while Kusoldharm rescue workers took the body of Chitnupong to Thalang Hospital.
According to police, at around 12:30am police officers in Phuket Town set up a checkpoint near Soi Siangtai on Thepkasattri Rd in Rassada.
When Chitnupong arrived at the checkpoint he was asked to stop, however, Chitnupong ran the checkpoint and sped away towards Thalang while police gave chase.
Chitnupong then hit a vehicle close to the main SuperCheap store on Thepkasattri Rd but did not stop.
Police who were chasing Chitnupong then fired shots at his vehicle hoping he would stop but he continued to drive towards Heroines Monument.
When he reached the monument he turned left towards Cherng Talay so chasing officers radioed to Cherng Talay Police to stop him.
At the scene where Chitnupong was shot, a patrol vehicle overtook and managed to force Chitnupong off the road and into the curb.
Police then ran from their vehicle and ordered Chitnupong to leave his car. However, Chitnupong raised his gun at the officers.
Officers then fired at Chitnupong killing him.