Off with the toy gun: Someone shot plastic bullets at the Thai king

GERMANY: German prosecutors said on Wednesday they were investigating a 14-year-old boy suspected of shooting plastic bullets from a toy gun at the King of Thailand who was cycling near Munich this month. The king was not hurt. The unidentified youth, together with a 13-year-old who is too young to be investigated, is suspected of having fired the gun from a garden or house window at a group of cyclists that included King Maha Vajiralongkorn, a regular visitor to Bavaria, and his entourage. “A toy pistol, a soft air pistol, was used. First it was fired at a group of cyclists, one of whom was the King of Thailand,” said Thomas Rauscher, prosecutor in the southern town of Landshut. Neither the king nor any of his entourage was hurt. “We have no details,” said an official at the palace’s news division who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter in Thailand. Prosecutors said the king’s household said they had no interest in charges being brought in the case. Reuters was unable to contact the youth, who has not been identified. It was not clear who had drawn the incident to the attention of the police. Representatives at the Thai Embassy in Berlin were not available for comment. Later, more shots were allegedly fired at the king’s car in the small, historic town of Erding, the prosecutor said.