Phuket City Police were informed by staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital at 12:20am today (Mar 26) that a patient had arrived with a bullet wound to his left heel. The bullet had been removed and the injury treated, officers were told.
Pol Lt Col Thanturong Wuttiwong and Pol Lt Col Boonphob Thinbut, both Deputy Superintendents at Phuket City Police, were informed and began their investigation.
At the hospital emergency room, the patient, Nanphiphat Srisuwan, told police that he was shot in an incident on the Thepsrisin Bridge, which traverses Khlong Ko Phi on the west side of Phuket Town, joining Saphan Hin to Sakdidet Rd in Wichit.
Officers from Phuket City Police Station soon inspected the scene and found scorch marks and broken glass by the roadside, believed to be the remains of the Molotov cocktails said to have been thrown.
One of Mr Nanphiphat’s friends, who police named only as “Mr Diao”, told police that he and Mr Nanphiphat and some other friends were hanging out near the Saphan Hin playground when they decided to go to a friend’s place in Wichit.
As the group approached Thepsrisin Bridge, a group of five other youths arrived on two motorbikes, one a Honda Dream, the other a Honda Wave.
The group began antagonising them, then threw Molotov cocktails and shot at them, Mr Diao said.
Mr Nanphiphat, who was sitting on the back of the motorbike being driven by Mr Diao, was shot in his left heel.
Police are now checking CCTV footage from the area in the hope of tracking down the perpetrators.