The siege at a house in Bangkok’s Sai Mai district, where a disturbed police officer had been firing gunshots since Tuesday morning, ended shortly after noon on Wednesday. The officer succumbed to his injuries on the same night.
Pol Lt Col Kittikarn Saengbun, 51, an inspector attached to Special Branch Bureau’s Intelligence Development Centre, was shot and wounded by police commandos at 12.19pm, ending the 24-hour long standoff, the Metropolitan Police Bureau announced.
The wounded man was taken to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital in Sai Mai.
Pol Gen Torsak Sukwimol, deputy national police chief, confirmed the police inspector was pronounced dead at 9.50pm.
The announcement said the man had returned fire, but no other people were injured.
A police drone video released later in the day showed the man jumping from the second floor window at the back of the house, and then lying helplessly on the ground. Heavily armed police emerge from the first floor door, swarm him and cuff his hands behind his back.
The police siege was in its second day, with the police inspector holed up inside the house still refusing to surrender.
Police from Sai Mai and the Arintharat special task force had been at the scene since Tuesday, after shots were heard at the house in Mankhong housing estate 1 on Soi Jeeramakorn in Sai Mai district around 11am. He began firing shots into the air and inside his house on Tuesday and overnight.
More shots were fired on Wednesday morning. A policeman in the street outside, Pol Sgt Sathaporn Kaewphuang, of the Arintharat special task force, was hit on his helmet by a bullet, but was unhurt.
Negotiations to calm the agitated officer down had failed. The officer reportedly fired more than 50 gunshots on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Around 2.30am on Wednesday, Arintharat task force officers fired about 20 tear gas cannisters into the house. The gas billowed from the premises.
At 5.05am, task force officers and police commandoes moved closer to his house, placing a ladder up to the second-floor balcony. Stun grenades were thrown into the house.
Reporters were ushered away from the police barrier. Negotiations continued as police tried to persuade Pol Lt Col Kittikarn to walk out of the house with raised arms, but there was no response.
At 10.57am, Pol Lt Col Kittikarn reportedly agreed to hold talks via mobile phone, and he asked for cigarettes from the negotiation team, according to FM91 Trafficpro.
At 11.25am, television news reported that police had entered the first floor of the house.
Pol Lt Col Kittikarn, a Lamphun native, began his career in the police force in 1998.
A police drone shows the agitated police officer inside his house in Sai Mai district, Bangkok. (Photo: Police TV)
A window on the second floor of the officer’s house in Sai Mai district (Photo: Police TV)
The Metropolitan Police Bureau releases photos of Pol Lt Col Kittikarn Saengbun inside his house as negotiations continue to persuade him to surrender.(Photos: Police TV Facebook)
Gunshots are heard as Arintharat special task force officers and police commandoes move in at 12.10pm on Wednesday. (Police TV Facebook)