Thai Fusion closed for good

Trevor Nichols - Jun 03, 2017 - Biz Releases

‘We’re shutting our doors, so whoever is doing this, they can stop risking anyone else’s lives’

Atsawin (Luke) Sumpantarat is finally throwing in the towel.

For two years, in the face of constant, and increasingly violent attacks, he kept his popular West Kelowna restaurant open.

But after a late-night attack June 2 left Thai Fusion riddled with bullet holes, Sumpantarat says he can’t live with the idea that someone could get hurt.

“I just don’t feel like we should put anyone’s lives at risk anymore,” he said Saturday, shortly after shutting down Thai Fusion for good. “I just want whoever is doing this to know, so that they stop trying.”

The attacks on Thai Fusion began in 2015, when, over the course of several months, the restaurant’s windows were repeatedly smashed.

Each new attack was more severe than the last, and, despite Sumpantarat continuously beefing up his security, the attacks just kept coming. Last October, things escalated even further when someone broke into the restaurant and set it on fire, causing it to close for several months.

When Thai Fusion was hit with a hail of bullets Friday morning, it was the second time the restaurant had been shot at in a week.

The RCMP have been investigating the incidents, and recently stepped up their efforts to catch the culprits, but appear to have had no success thus far.

No one has ever been hurt in the attacks, and after the June 2 shooting a defiant Sumpantarat vowed to open Thai Fusion for dinner that very night. He followed through on his promise, but said Saturday he doesn’t feel like it was a responsible decision.

“Me just opening up yesterday I think was, in a way, too risky to even try,” he said.

He said he wanted to show whomever has been terrorizing him that their efforts weren’t working, but after a long chat with his wife, who runs the restaurant with him, the pair decided they had no choice but to give up and close for good.

“If something happens to someone, just walking by or anything like that, we just wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves,” he said. “So we just think it’s probably in everybody’s best interest that we just shut the doors and move on.”

“I never thought it would ever come to this. I thought I had a strong enough will to get past anything that happens, but it’s just too much,” Sumpantarat said.

He said he wants whomever has been attacking the restaurant to know that Thai Fusion is, as of now, officially closed, so they can stop what they’re doing before someone else gets hurt.

Sumpantarat said he isn’t entirely sure what he’s going to do now, but he’s confident there are other opportunities for him. However, he said he feels deeply for his 11 other staff, as they are very suddenly out of work.

As for whoever has been terrorizing him for years, he said he’s just done with it all.

“I really want nothing to do with any of those people who have been doing it. I can think of a million bad things to say, but I don’t think it’s worth anyone reading,” he said.