Muramoto, 43, was shot in the chest in
between security forces and red-shirted protesters with the United Front for
Democracy Against Dictatorship, or UDD, according to news accounts and CPJ
interviews.
A 15-year Reuters veteran based in
Muramoto was pronounced dead at a
hospital. He was one of two foreign journalists killed during violent political
unrest that gripped the capital for several weeks. Fabio Polenghi, an Italian
freelance photographer, was killed in crossfire in May.
A Reuters investigation, which drew on information from two
unidentified witnesses, found that Muramoto “was shot almost certainly by a
high-velocity bullet fired at street level while standing in a street between
Thai troops and red shirt protesters.” A summary of the Reuters inquiry, reviewed
by CPJ, said that Muramoto “was not shot at close range” and that “both troops
and protesters had high-velocity weapons at the time of Hiro’s death and there
were casualties on both sides that night.” The findings contradicted initial government
assertions that Muramoto had been shot by a UDD sniper positioned on a nearby
rooftop.
By December 2010, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation was focusing on security forces as the likely source of fire. Reuters, quoting from a leaked department report, said the death “was caused by a high-velocity bullet as gunfire flashed from the direction of soldiers.” Reuters called for the report to be publicly released.