Bread vendor shot dead in Yangon neighbourhood by junta troops

Junta troops shot and killed a man on 121st St in Yangon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township on Thursday night, according to a neighbourhood resident and a passerby. 

The soldiers first arrived on the next street—122nd—at around 8pm after a man who appeared to be drunk began shouting obscenities in public, the two sources told Myanmar Now. The soldiers chased and opened fire at him, causing other people on the street to flee, said a woman who lives in the area. 

At 11pm, a neighbourhood 42-year-old bread vendor was found dead from an apparent bullet wound to the neck. 

The victim was identified as Thein Min Oo and his body was found between two apartment buildings on 121st St, one block over from his home. The local woman told Myanmar Now that the discovery came after his family members informed their ward administrator that they had been unable to locate him following the incident earlier in the evening, in which he was not involved. 

Residents of the area believe Thein Min Oo was hit by a stray bullet while the soldiers were chasing the intoxicated man. 

“When we heard gunfire, we all fled. If the soldiers fired [warning] shots into the air, he wouldn’t have been shot. I don’t know how he was shot,” the local woman said.

She added that an ambulance came to pick up Thein Min Oo’s body later that night and that several soldiers remained on the street until around 1am. 

A male passerby who was around the neighbourhood at around 8:30pm said he saw a uniformed soldier fired two shots with a pistol from a military vehicle parked at the corner of Bo Min Yaung and Kyaung streets, near 121st and 122nd streets. 

Moments later, he heard gunfire from 122nd St and people began coming out of the street. 

“I don’t know who they were shooting at. I just heard gunshots. Later I heard that soldiers had fired warning shots to disperse a crowd when two drunken men started fighting,” he said.

People on the streets around the neighbourhood were startled and ran from the area after they heard gunshots from 122nd St, he added.

The bread vendor’s body was cremated on Friday afternoon, according to the woman who lived in his neighbourhood. 

Yangon residents have reported that in recent days, soldiers have been patrolling neighbourhoods in Sanchaung, Hlaing, Tamwe, Thingangyun, South Okkalapa, South Dagon, and Dagon Seikkan townships daily. 

According to data compiled by the rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 1,023 people have been killed by junta troops since the military takeover on February 1. Nearly 7,600 people have been arrested and at least 5,975 are still detained in prisons across the country, the AAPP said.