(Updated) "Popcorn shooter" confesses.
Latest: Popcorn shooter confesses to firing weapon at Lak Si. Earlier: Arrest made in Surat Thani 24-year-old Phitsanulok native Vivat Yodprasert, nicknamed the "popcorn gunman", one of four suspects, to be arrested for attempted murder & other violations.
Thursday update Thai police held a press conference this morning in which Vivat Yodprasert, 24, the so-called "popcorn gunman" confessed that he was the man seen shooting a rifle through a popcorn bag. at the Lak Si intersection. He said that he fired about twenty rounds with no particular target in sight. He said he was a PDRC guard and was paid 300 baht per day. He is held on a serious of weapons-related charges and police say they will oppose bail.
Here is more from our online reporters.
The suspect said he was approached by a friend, who went by the name Men, to work as a security guard for the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) in exchange for a daily compensation of 300 baht.
"The gun that I used at the Laksi shooting was an M16 and I got it from another PDRC guard at the Chaeng Watthana rally site. He taught me how to use the gun. However, I had never used weapons and never created violence before the Lak Si incident.
"On that day (Feb 1), I received a radio signal from another guard to come out and protect Luang Pu Buddha Isara (one of the protest leaders and a monk) and prevent the protest site from being taken over.
"I shot about 20 rounds but I don't know who hired me," Mr Vivat said. A popcorn bag was used to conceal the M16 and to collect spent bullet shells, he said.
The shooter suspect said he returned the gun to one of the PDRC guards and went into hiding in his friends' houses following the Laksi shooting.