A military police officer is on the run after he drunkenly discharged his weapon in a beer garden in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district on Thursday night, with a bullet grazing the back of another patron, according to police.
A second military police officer who was accompanying the shooter was arrested as he tried to escape, police said.
The shooter, who has not been named, was reportedly showing off in the packed Sreyna restaurant in Boeng Kak II commune when the incident occurred around 9:30 p.m.
“They had been drinking too much and then one guy took out his handgun to flash it and accidentally shot into the ground,” said commune police chief Khann Khuntith.
“Immediately, the shooter fled in his Lexus.”
The police chief said that the shooter’s friend and fellow officer attempted to escape on a motorbike, but was apprehended by commune police and turned over to military police.
“I dont know what they will do with him,” he said, adding that he had reported the incident to his superiors.
Tann Uth Tarou, commander of Tuol Kok military police, confirmed that one man had been handed over in relation to the shooting, but referred further questions to his superiors.
Khen Sovann, deputy commander of Phnom Penh military police in charge of the case, declined to comment. Police and military police officials refused to identify either of the men.
In a video posted to YouTube, the victim of the shooting, Roh Sarum, 32, disputed that his injury was accidental.
“It is not careless shooting, it is intentional shooting,” he says in the clip.
Mr. Khuntith, the commune police chief, said he had received a complaint from Mr. Sarum over the shooting.
