Ex-Olympic Thai pistol shooter gunned down in Bangkok

Jakkrit Panichpatikum AFP FILE PHOTO

BANGKOK- A former pistol-shooting champion who twice represented Thailand at the Olympics has been killed in Bangkok by attackers who fled on a motorcycle, police told AFP on Sunday.

Jakkrit Panichpatikum, 40, a household name in Thailand, was shot late Saturday as he drove to the house of his estranged wife. Their stormy relationship was feverishly followed by Thai tabloid newspapers.

Two men on a motorcycle followed Jakkrit and shot him several times as he approached his wife’s house, police said.

“Police are still investigating and have not yet concluded what the motive was for the shooting,” said police lieutenant colonel Pradit Taprasitkitti.

Thai media published grisly photographs of his bullet-riddled body slumped at the wheel of his sports car.

Jakkrit was recently in the limelight after his mother and his wife filed a complaint to police alleging he had assaulted and threatened his wife.

As well as appearing to enjoy his bad boy image, Jakkrit was Thailand’s best shooter, reaching the quarter final of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and competing in last year’s London Games.