Police are hunting for a 54-year-old man accused of shooting his girlfriend and a golf course manager in Kanchanaburi province.
Pol Maj Gen Pairote Khumpai, chief of Kanchanaburi police, said on Thursday that a warrant for the arrest of Natthawat Donmon was approved by Kanchanaburi Provincial Court. The incident took place at about 4.40pm on Wednesday at Mae Klong Dam Golf Course in Tha Muang district of Kanchanaburi.
Mr Natthawat allegeldy shot his 35-year-old girlfriend, Soisuda Kham-ong, who was also playing golf at the seventh hole. The woman was receiving treatment at a hospital in adjacent Ratchaburi, her native province. She was shot once in the chest and twice in the right shoulder. She works as a caddy at a well-known golf course in Ratchaburi.
The suspect then proceeded to shoot Kriangsak Chaiwanarom, the 67-year-old manager of Mae Klong Dam Golf Course. Kriangsak, a retired irrigation official, was shot under the chin with a 9mm pistol while playing golf at the ninth hole. He succumbed to his injuries at Makarak Hospital in Tha Maka district of Kanchanaburi on Thursday morning.
Police identified the suspect through the accounts of eyewitnesses who were playing golf with the injured woman. The gunman drove a golf cart to approach the victims.
CCTV footage revealed that the suspect drove a silver Isuzu MU-7 with Bangkok licence plates from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok on Wednesday evening, following the shooting. The suspect turned off his mobile phone to impede police tracking.
At the crime scene, police found three spent bullet shells at the seventh hole and four cartridges at the ninth hole.
Pol Col Sarawut Srisangworn, chief of the Tha Muang station, said that the gunman first targeted his girlfriend while she was playing golf with her caddy friends beforefiring at the golf course manager.
Police believed that the motive behind the crime is connected to a love affair.