This is very strange coming at a time when the media is claiming more Britons die in thailand than anywhere else in the world. But this apparent motiveless attack does seem bizarre (no smoke without fire or just wrong person in the wrong place at the right time?). has there been any coverage of this in Thailand?

 

C&P

 

Victim, 49, survives major surgery, kept under police guard after unexplained attack

 

Feb 14, 2008 TheStar.com

Michele Henry

Crime Reporter

 

 

A Mississauga physicist is recovering in hospital in northern Thailand after being shot, apparently randomly, while riding with his wife in a taxicab.

 

Erik Griffioen, 49, the fourth Canadian to be wounded or killed by gunfire in Thailand in the last two months, is in stable condition, his mother said yesterday from her Kitchener home.

 

Johanna Griffioen said her son was "comfortable" after nearly day-long surgery to remove a bullet from his abdomen.

 

Still shaken by the news, Johanna said she feels reassured by the fact her son's wife of more than 16 years, Dr. Elizabeth Ling, is at his side.

 

"She is very competent," Johanna said. "She knows what to do. She'll speak up for him and not take a back seat."

 

Johanna said her daughter-in-law called yesterday to tell her Griffioen will recover and: "Don't worry."

 

The couple live in Hamilton, where Ling is an anesthesiologist at Henderson Research Centre. She gave her mother-in-law a brief account of the shooting over a static-filled telephone line, saying Griffioen slumped over suddenly in the open-sided taxi they were riding in.

 

Ling told CBC News her husband was talking and alert after the long surgery, which was "touch and go" at one stage. She said she believes the shooting was accidental.

 

Five minutes earlier, the couple had checked out of a luxury hotel in Chiang Mai, about 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, to set out on a three-day elephant riding and hiking trek.

 

They were riding in the open taxi when they heard a loud bang that Ling first thought was tires exploding, she told CBC.

 

The taxi rushed her husband to the local McCormick Hospital.

 

While reports have said Griffioen remains there, the hospital did not list him as a patient last night.

 

Thai police said the Canadian victim is under guard in hospital.

 

His mother confirmed this. "They want to make sure he's safe," Johanna Griffioen said. "They don't know who did it or what happened."

 

Hospital doctors said the angle of the bullet wound suggests he was shot from up high, possibly from a highrise, the CBC reported.

 

Thai police said they have no leads or suspects.

 

Now working at a cancer clinic in Mississauga, Griffioen earned a PhD in physics at York in 1993 and stayed on as a research associate until 2001.

 

Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said yesterday the Canadian embassy in Bangkok and consulate in Chiang Mai were assisting the family.

 

The couple left Canada on Jan. 7 for Thailand. They then went to Cambodia and Laos, and arrived in Chiang Mai a few days ago.

 

They were to travel to Cape Town in March, where Ling was to attend a conference.

 

They now intend to return to Canada as soon as possible, the victim's mother said.

 

Dale Henry, 48, a Canadian oil worker, was shot to death earlier at his Thai country home this month. His wife and two others were arrested in his killing.

 

Last month Leo John Del Pinto, of Calgary, was shot to death, and his friend Carly Reisig was wounded, when an off-duty police officer in northern Thailand opened fire.

 

 

 

 

Yes, that is a very strange story. Sounds very random to me.