Military police in Phnom Penh yesterday arrested an RCAF officer after he allegedly became drunk and fired a handgun at random, causing bar patrons to take cover and inflicting minor injures on a British schoolteacher at a nearby pool lounge in Chamkar Mon district, authorities said.
At about 12:45 pm, Jenna Colbourne, 28, a British teacher at Phnom Penh’s ICAN International School, was grazed on her right foot after a bullet ricocheted off the wall of the Golden Gate Hotel on street 278 and struck her as she lay by the pool at Elsewhere, a bar next door.
Within two hours of the shooting, Brigadier General Tep Phearum, 55, had been arrested by military police for shooting his handgun in public, municipal penal police chief Pol Davy said.
“I heard this really loud bang and then felt something bounce off my foot,” Ms Colbourne said yesterday after receiving treatment at a clinic.
“Another two shots were fired and everyone started running for cover…. Then I noticed there was a lot of blood coming from my foot.”
After the shooting stopped, Ms Colbourne was helped into a tuk- tuk to seek treatment. After returning to Elsewhere, she said she then walked home straight past Brig Gen Phearum, who was still sitting on the street drinking.
Hours after the random shooting, Ms Colbourne’s blood was still visible on the poolside mat where she had been lying and where she had taken cover behind a fence.
“I am very lucky,” she said. “If this is the worst thing that can happen to me then it is not too bad.”
A local bartender who did not want to be named said he believed the general had fired his weapon in the air but one of the bullets hit the wall of a guesthouse across the street.
Mr Davy, the penal police chief, said the Brig Gen Phearum worked in the logistics department at the Defense Ministry.
“The gunman after shooting…was still sitting and drinking rice wine in front of his house,” Mr Davy said. “We can’t question him because we are waiting for him to get better from his heavy drunkenness. Now he is in custody, maybe [on Monday] we will question him.”
Nathalie Parize, a co-owner of Elsewhere, said she was shocked to hear about the incident yesterday afternoon.
“Elsewhere moved to its current location about a year ago and there has never been anything like this,” Ms Parize said. “We all know living here that sometimes things like this happen but we are very lucky that no one was more seriously hurt.”
Ms Parize paid for Ms Colbourne’s medical treatment yesterday and said she would seek to have it reimbursed by whoever was responsible for the shooting.
“I will try to claim it back from them, not for the money, but so that the person is made to take responsibility for their actions.”
