PUBLISHED : 30 Dec 2023 at 11:49
A police officer shot dead a businessman on an expressway in Bangkok’s Wang Thonglang district around midnight before he was later arrested in Don Muang on Saturday.
The fatal shooting happened at kilometre maker 10 on Chalong Rat expressway above Praditmanutham Road, said Pol Capt Ouaychai Srisong, deputy investigation chief at Wang Thonglang police staton, who was reported about midnight.
Polce, forensic officials, a doctor and rescue workers rushing to the scene found the body of a man was lying in a pool of blood on the left lane of the expressway. Wearing black jeans and a polo T-shirt, the man, identified later as Krit, (whose surname was withheld), sustained five gunshot wounds -twice on his forehead, one on his right hand,one of his right arm and one on his right leg.
Police found 50,000 baht cash and other valuable items from his body. Five cartridges were collected from the scene.
A staff member of the expressway told police that he and another colleague were on duty at the time and they saw a van parked near the wall of the expressway. Two men were quarreling at the spot. One of them was assaulted and fell on the road surface. Then another man sat astride, carrying a gun on his right hand.
When seeing the gun, the two expressway staff stepped away. They later heard two gunshots and the gunman immediately fled in the van.
The two expressway staff rushed to help the wounded victim, who told them to help phone his wife. During the phone conversation, he told her to take their children to flee from the house for fear that the gunman might take their lives.
Shortly later, the fleeing gunman returned and parked the van in the opposite side of the shooting scene. He got out of the van, jumped over barriers at the road divider and walked toward the injured man.
Upon seeing the gunman, the two expressway staff immediately escaped inside their vehicle and then drove away not far from the scene. They saw the gunman firing more shots at the victim before returning to the van to flee. The victim died at the spot.
At the time, a passenger bus No 34E running on the expressway to Rangsit arrived at the spot. The expressway staff asked the bus driver to park his bus to prevent other vehicles from running over the body. They then alerted police.
The victim’s mother, his wife and his children arrived at the spot. They broke into tears when seeing the body.
During questioning, his wife told police that the gunman and her husband knew each other. The suspect was identified as Pol Lt Narongwat Thachata, a deputy investigation chief at a police station in Bangkok. The van where the gunman drove belonged to her husband.
There were reports that the victim was a businessman and owner of a factory. Police were examining closed-circuit television cameras to hunt down the suspect.
Later, a team of police investigators from the Metropolitan Police Division 4 rounded up a rented room in Don Muang district and managed to arrest Pol Lt Narongwat. The suspect was being questioned at the MPD 4 office.