Anupong Suebsamarn — the 45-year-old Thai national who is one of the two victims of the Strasbourg shooting that have been confirmed dead thus far — had not planned to be in the French city after all when he was tragically killed. He and his wife had changed their travel plans due to the protest in Paris, according to Anupong’s uncle.
Yesterday around 2am Bangkok time, a lone gunman opened fire on shoppers at a Christmas Market in Strasbourg, a French city bordering Germany, killing two and wounding 12 others.
While previous reports said the gunman had killed three people, a French prosecutor said last night two were confirmed dead while the third was brain dead, reported Independent.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that the 45-year-old Thai man, who was traveling to France with his wife Naiyana, died as a result of the shooting.
The couple had just arrived in France one day before Anupong was killed.
Theerapong Chatchayaprachat, a 58-year-old uncle of Anupong, told reporters that his nephew and Naiyana had originally planned to travel in Paris, but the Yellow Vest protest in the capital caused the couple to change their itinerary and go to Strasbourg instead, Thairath reported.
The second eldest son of the family, Anupong operated his parents’ Ung Hua Chiang noodle factory in eastern Chachoengsao province. The couple lived in Bangkok, where Naiyana has a clothing business, and they traveled to Chachoengsao frequently. The pair did not have children.
Distraught by their son’s tragic death, Anupong’s parents have refused to speak to media.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Busadee Santipitaks, said that the Thai consul in France has met with Naiyana yesterday, adding that she remains strong in spirit, while the French government has provided a psychologist to help her cope with the trauma.
Busadee said that the Thai Embassy in Paris will assist Naiyana with her questioning by French police. She also said that it could take up to two weeks for authorities to perform an autopsy on Anupong’s body before they could transport back to Thailand.
Anupong’s family remains in contact with the Thai Embassy and plans to hold his funeral at Thepnimit Temple in his hometown.
Who is Cherif Chekatt?
The French authorities have identified the gunman as Cherif Chekatt, a 29-year-old Strasbourg native.
The suspect lived in a small apartment in the city’s ramshackle housing block and has convictions in France and several European countries after a life of crime, officials say.
https://twitter.com/BreakingNAgency/status/1072935324601458690
Others said the man was known in the area owing to his criminal record, but he kept a low profile, only venturing downstairs for a coffee and baguette.
The suspected gunman has been sentenced 27 times, mostly in France where he was born, but also in Germany, Switzerland as well as Luxembourg which are easily reached from Strasbourg.
His crimes range from violence to robbery, but not terrorism.
Chekatt was added to a watchlist of possible extremists while in prison in France in 2015 after he “called for practicing a radical form of religion,” French deputy interior minister Laurent Nunez said on Wednesday.
He has since been monitored by France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, which is occupied monitoring a large number of suspected extremists in France.
Some 25,000 people are currently on the “S” extremism watchlist, 9,700 of them for radicalism “linked mainly to Islamist terror movements,” according to the interior ministry.
“He is an individual who has unfortunately been known for a very long time for crime,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told French MPs on Wednesday.
“From the age of 10, his behavior was already criminal. He had his first sentence at 13 years old,” Castaner said.
Additional reporting by AFP
Related:
Thai tourist confirmed as victim of France’s Strasbourg shooting
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