Military police said they arrested two Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) officers in Siem Reap City on Tuesday night after a gunshot was fired inside a karaoke parlor, apprehending the soldier who fired his gun and another who cursed at the officers making the arrest.
Ky Haklong, 38, was charged yesterday with unauthorized use and possession of weapons, while Tann Huyhout, 41, was questioned over his verbal abuse and released, according to Uy Choy, chief of the provincial military police’s penal bureau.
Mr. Choy said the soldiers were arrested at about 9 p.m. at Hidden Palace KTV, a club near the city’s RCAF headquarters in Kandek commune.
“The argument was caused by one of the RCAF soldier’s girls ordering too much food,” he said, adding that six soldiers, a girlfriend, and five women working at the karaoke parlor were in the room when the shot was fired.
Following the shooting, Mr. Haklong threatened to kill any of the women if they tried to leave, Mr. Choy said. But as the soldiers argued among themselves, the five club employees were able to escape and alert police, he added.
“After we were alerted to the shooting, military police went to arrest him at the KTV but they left before our forces arrived,” he said, explaining that the soldiers continued drinking at a nearby bar.
“We arrested him near the headquarters while they were still drinking,” he said, adding that while Mr. Haklong had been their only target, they also arrested Mr. Huyhout for interfering in the arrest.
“Tann Huyhout tried to protect the suspect from being arrested by using bad words to look down on our officers, and he threatened them, so we arrested him too,” he said.
The bureau chief said Mr. Haklong was also arrested in April 2014 after firing seven bullets into the air, although he couldn’t remember the circumstances or if he had been punished.
In the latest shooting, he said, the soldier has been charged with unauthorized holding of weapons under the criminal code and possession and use of a weapon without authorization under the weapons law, crimes that together carry up to five years in prison and 8 million riel (about $2,000) in fines.
Mr. Choy said Mr. Haklong was placed in provisional detention on Wednesday afternoon.
