PATHUM THANI — Police are still hunting a man who opened fire on officers in broad daylight Monday to evade a checkpoint in northern metro Bangkok.
Two cops and a woman were injured by gunfire in Pathum Thani’s Khlong 5 area after police fired at the tire of a car fleeing a checkpoint, prompting its driver to shoot back.
Two police officers were hit by bullets, as was a female passenger inside the vehicle. The driver abandoned the car and his four passengers to flee the scene on foot.
“We found drugs in the car,” police Maj. Amnat Nakvijit said, presuming they were a motive in the suspect’s actions. “There were five people sitting in the car: the gunman, a child and three women.”
The injured were brought to Thanyaburi Hospital. Police are still searching for the gunman, who ran from the road toward the nearby village of Moo Ban Suan Kaset Khlong 5.
The exchange of gunfire began after the green car with Nonthaburi plates fled the police checkpoint. It soon became stuck at a red light on Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road near the hospital.
That’s when approaching police decided to shoot its tire. The driver tried to steer the car away to escape but bumped into a truck behind.
In the ensuing gun battle, a woman in the car was reportedly shot in the leg. One officer was shot in the torso while the other was shot in his right foot. Both were expected to live.
