Former Pheu Thai spokesman critical after shooting

Sakda Noppasith, a senior Chonburi politician, was shot by a gunman at a restaurant in Samet subdistrict, Muang district of Chonburi province early on Tuesday morning.

Police at Samet station were alerted of the incident at 5.30am. On arriving at the scene, they found Sakda on the ground in the restaurant’s parking lot with a bullet wound to the stomach. The bullet reportedly went through the victim's back.  

The victim was rushed to Chonburi Hospital and remained in critical condition as at the time of this report.

Police found a fired casing of 9mm bullet on the ground, along with several unused bullets of the same size. They speculated that the gunman’s magazine had malfunctioned after the shooting, releasing leftover bullets onto the ground.

Officials are checking CCTV footage nearby for signs of the escaped gunman.

The motive behind the shooting is unclear.

Sakda, 61, was a secretary to the Natural Resources and Environment Minister from 2018-2021, and also served as spokesman of the Pheu Thai Party, and deputy secretary-general of the For The Nation Party.

He is the father of Wannida Noppasith, a People’s Party MP for Chonburi’s 2nd constituency.

Sakda ran as MP for Chonburi in the 2001 and 2005 general elections under the Democrat’s banner but was defeated both times. He later joined the Pheu Thai Party.

He is a member of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the Red Shirt movement. He took part in the storming of the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya in 2009, and was sentenced to jail in March 2017.

He was released a year later and joined the For The Nation Party.