Ice Cream Vendor Rivalry: Prachin Buri’s Chilling Clash Turns Criminal

On what seemed to be just another balmy Saturday evening, Phattanarin, a 47-year-old ice cream seller, was minding her own business, cruising on her motorcycle when calamity struck near Sam Thahan Intersection around 8:30 pm. Out of the blue, a gunshot rang out, breaking the typical serenity that one might expect in such a setting. The shot didn’t miss its target, landing on Phattanarin, who, although wounded, managed to maintain her composure and now rests in stable condition.

As it turns out, this wasn’t an act of random violence. No, it was an ill-conceived expression of fiery competitiveness, as the alleged shooter, Sommai—an ice cream vendor himself at the ripe age of 64—harbored a simmering grudge against Phattanarin. Earlier that day, harsh words and accusations flew like snowflakes in a blizzard, with Sommai fiercely claiming Phattanarin encroached on his designated turf. A threat was made—fiery, dramatic, and unfortunately, all too real.

The dramatic clash was caught on video thanks to a dashcam from a passing vehicle. It shows the unsuspecting Phattanarin, her motorcycle and sidecar trundling innocently ahead, when Sommai swooped in, driving a sedan. What followed resembled a scene straight out of an action movie but tragically all too real—a gunshot, a wild veering vehicle, and a crash that nobody expected on what should have been a routine riding shift for selling sweet, creamy wares.

Slick escape plans unraveled as police followed the crumbs back to Sommai, who confessed to the spine-chilling crime like someone unrepentantly owning up to stealing the last cookie from the jar. He revealed, with unsettling nonchalance, that he had disposed of the firearm somewhere along the road—a weapon he’d procured years before, smuggled like a prize from Cambodia. In his confession, Sommai spun a tale of recurring friction, claiming that Phattanarin had threatened to unleash her own brand of vengeance upon him. This flimsy defense seemed feeble in the face of his admission.

Sommai’s freedom melted away faster than his ice cream on a hot day, as he was brought before Kabin Buri Court the day after the incident, with charges to match his actions. The charges were weighty—a count of illegal firearm possession, and another of attempted murder. If found guilty of the former, he faces up to a decade of staring at gray walls, alongside a monetary penalty of 20,000 baht, or both. As for the latter—attempted murder under Section 288 of the Criminal Code—it opens the pandora’s box of potential penalties, from a long domicile in the big house to life, or even irreversible consequences.

This clash of the ice cream vendors has left a sour note resonating beyond the local community, echoing across news outlets as a bizarre episode of conflict-turned-crime that one might have thought plausible only in fiction. Yet, as the thick court proceedings grind forward, one can only reflect on the extraordinary turns a day in the life can take when simple competitive fervor spirals out of control.