A Bangkok man who liked muscling into his friends' disputes was shot dead for his troubles after intervening in a row set off by a love triangle.
Klong Tan police last week arrested Suphan "Keng" Jenkarn- ying, 31, for killing Nakhon Naka "Ice" Mulalin, also 31, and injuring a young man on whose behalf Ice intervened, Teerasak "Benz" Arjphongsa, 25.
The shooting took place in front of a tyre repair shop in soi Pattanakarn 20, sub-soi 9, Suan Luang, early on Jan 10.
Keng let off a salvo of six rounds from his revolver in what he says was a spur of the moment attack, after Ice slapped him over the head.
The first shot did not go as planned. Keng shot himself in the hand as he was pulling out his gun.
The bullet shattered on the ground with shrapnel bouncing off the road and hitting Benz in the face. The main target, however, was Ice, who had just accused Keng of stealing his mate's former girlfriend. Keng shot him repeatedly before taking off on his motorbike.
Witnesses say Keng, who had scouted the area on his bike 20 minutes before the attack, turned up with the gun in a chest bag. They say he was not wearing it the first time he went past.
Four people including Ice and Benz were having a meal outside the shop, owned by Benz's father, when Keng turned up after midnight. Witnesses say he was holding the weapon inside his chest bag throughout.
Reports conflict as to what issues triggered the dispute. One is Keng's girlfriend, identified in news reports as Bow, whom Keng poached from Benz in May last year even though Benz and Bow had been together for years and were engaged to be married.
However, the two sides had since made up, with Bow returning the gold, motorcycle and dowry which Benz had given her. Still outstanding was a 1,500 baht phone bill, though that matter was cleared up a couple of days before the shooting when Keng repaid the sum on her behalf.
Ice met Keng outside the shop on that occasion too, and supposedly invited him to return to "clear the air".
Muddying matters further was a FB post in which Bow asked Benz's side to stop meddling in their lives. "It is New Year and time for a new start. I am sick of the boring past," she wrote.
She took down the post after Benz objected, saying he had the right to request repayment of the phone bill.
Some reports spun her post as a challenge to Benz and his group, and claimed the two sides met to clear the air over it.
However, Benz, speaking from his hospital bed where he was undergoing an operation to remove the shrapnel from his face, denied the two sides planned the meeting. Nor was the phone bill or his relationship with Bow an issue, as those matters were now behind them.
Ice, who was close to Benz, took the lead in the conversation when Keng arrived. Benz, who was standing nearby, did not even talk to him, reports say.
Ice told Keng that none of the problems would have started had he not wrested Bow away from his "junior", Benz.
"Benz is my junior and no one can touch him; nonetheless, he wants no problems. The fault is with you. If you hadn't stolen his girlfriend none of this would have happened," he said.
Ice repeated his claims, trying to goad a response from Keng, who said nothing. However, Keng flared up when Ice slapped him over the head.
Ice's mother Narisara Mulalin, 55, said she thought Keng had gone too far in shooting her son. Media reports said he worked in a pool hall and was well known for helping his friends out of scrapes. "When I heard my son had been shot, I thought to myself that he must have stepped in as 'umpire' again.
"He offers to help even when he does not know the other side. Often he gets a punch for his efforts; this time he was shot dead," she said.
Keng fled the scene and asked a friend for help bandaging his hand wound. He also tossed the gun in a canal. Handing himself in the next day, Keng apologised to Ice's family for the shooting.
He was charged with the intentional killing of Ice, attempting to kill Benz, and firearms charges.
Fate catches up with shooter
A Myanmar man shot himself playing Russian roulette, after daring his friends to join him but finding no takers.
Chai, 48, shot himself behind an ice factory in Bo Plub, Muang district of Nakhon Pathom last week.
The bullet entered his right temple and went out the left side. Police found a .38 revolver and empty bottles of beer at the scene. Chai, also identified as Nai Kim So in news reports, was drinking with his mates in front of a row of workers' living quarters.
Witnesses say Chai, a regular in the group, turned up to see his Myanmar mates who work at the ice factory. He himself worked at a shop selling rubber about 8km away.
Witnesses say he was already drunk when he arrived after 8pm. "He sat down, started boasting, and pulled out the gun which he carries on his waist," one report said. "He asked if anyone else was as bold as he was, and put in two bullets.
"The first one failed to go off but his mates had seen enough and fled. He shouted after them, taunting them for lacking courage. He put the gun to his head again, pulled the trigger and this time it went off, killing him."
It is the second time this month that a case has come to light of someone killed in a game of Russian roulette.
In Bangkok, teenager Wongsatorn "Bee" Tumgen died from a shot to the right side of his neck at an abandoned house in Nong Chok district on Jan 2.
His friends say Bee turned up late that night to show off a revolver he had bought. The first two times, the gun failed to go off, but on the third he shot himself.
Back in Nakhon Pathom, Chai's son, Can, 21, said his father told him he had been playing Russian roulette since he was young, and cheated death all this time. His Dad had bought the gun for self-protection.
His Dad had turned up at home twice that night after work before heading out to see his friends.
Can's mother may have been the first to hear about her husband's death.
"My mother called me around midnight telling me to go and see Dad urgently. When I arrived my father's body was on the ground, alone," he said. Police sent the body for an autopsy.
Now, where was home again?
A Mukdahan man was found 50km from home after getting drunk and losing his way back on his motorcycle.
Muang police found Daeng, 35, sitting outside a shop in the Ban Na Kham Noi area. Earlier, he was spotted driving about close to a school.
Worried he might be mentally ill, locals called police after noticing Daeng was muttering to himself.
When police reached him he was still feeling the effects of his drinking many hours before and not making much sense.
However, Daeng managed to tell them that he lives in the southernmost district of Don Tan. He was heading home but the route he took was "at odds" with those plans, media reports said.
It was pointed towards Khamcha-i district, itself some 35km to the west of Muang district, to Don Tan's north, where he ended up. In all he travelled some 50km after losing his bearings.
Police searched Daeng but found nothing illegal. They did find his welfare card, which gave his name.
They took him back to the station so he could sleep it off, then sent him on his way. News reports did not say if they gave him directions back home as he left.
