During a press conference at the police headquarters in Bangkok this morning, the media were allowed to pose questions directly to Prasitthichai Khaokaew, the suspect in the bloody gold-shop robbery in Lopburi on January 9.
Here is an excerpt of the short question-answer session conducted on a speaker-phone:
Q: Why did you have to shoot to kill the victims?
Prasitthichai: I only meant to shoot to frighten people.
Q: Did you plan the robbery in advance?
Prasitthichai: I thought about it for a few days.
Q: Why did you shoot at the victim (gold–shop attendant) again?
Prasitthichai: When I was on top of the counter and had my gun trained at the woman by hand-glove got tangled with the trigger. I tried to pull it off and caused the gun to fire twice.
Q: Why did you shoot the child (2–year–old Titan)?
Prasitthichai: I did not see him. I shot at the security guard to frighten him. The child could have been by the ricochet. I didn’t mean to shoot at the child.
Q: Don’t you have any sense of remorse? You still lived your normal life after what you had done.
Prasitthichai: I do regret. I saw news about what happened to the child and regret what I have done.
Q: How could you return to your normal life after what happened?
Prasitthichai: I tried to live a normal life and did not think about escaping. But deep down I regret what I did.
Q: If you wanted to frighten people, why didn’t you just fire warning shots? Prasitthichai: I did fire two shots at the gold show-case and didn’t expect the bullets to hit the attendant. And then when I saw two customers (who were also shot) I just lost my mind. I want to say I am sorry and ask for pardon.
Q: What do you want to say to the families of the victims?
Prasitthichai: I want to say I am sorry, especially to the family of Titan and those of other victims. I am sorry and I want to ask for pardon.
Q: Why did you use silencer and where did you get it from?
Prasitthichai: I bought it from someone my junior I know on the internet. I used it because I didn’t want to frighten people with loud noises.
Q: Did you think of giving yourself up?
Prasitthichai: I did think about surrendering but didn’t consult with anyone. I did everything by myself. My intention was to give myself up after January 24.
Q: Why January 24?
Prasitthichai: I had an assignment with students at my school that I needed to finish first.
Q: Was your first shot intentional or accidental?
Prasitthichai: It was intentional. I wanted to frighten people, to prevent people from getting near. But it ended up hitting Titan
Q: There was rumour that you committed the crime because you wanted to die, a dare–devil act.
Prasitthichai: No. I did it because of my personal problems. I have to excuse myself now.
