Gunman accused of killing cop found dead after overnight standoff with police
A 50-year-old man was shot dead early on Sunday in a dramatic overnight standoff with police at his Bangkok house after he had allegedly killed a deputy station chief, police said.
Police managed to enter the house on Soi 2 off Rama 2 Road in Bangkok’s Bang Bon district at 5.51am and declared suspect Boonma dead after a gun battle with commando police who had besieged the house.
Police said the cause of the death would be determined by an autopsy and declined to say whether he was shot dead by police or he had taken his own life with the pistol found beside his body.
Boonma’s body was found under a stairway on the mezzanine floor of his shophouse.
Police surrounded the shophouse after Pol Lt-Colonel Kitchon Chanyarom, deputy commander of the Thakham Police Station, was allegedly shot dead by Boonma when he rushed to the house on hearing a complaint. The police team was later reinforced with a commando team.
Kitchon was alerted at 9.45pm on Saturday that Boonma had a quarrel with his family and he had a gun. When the police officer arrived at the scene, Boonma allegedly opened fire at Kitchon, killing him at the scene and injuring another policeman.
After learning of the shooting death of the deputy police chief, Metropolitan Police commissioner Pol General Thiti Saengsawang rushed to the scene at 1.47am on Sunday to oversee the operation to arrest Boonma.
Thiti was informed that all the family members had left the house and only Boonma was inside. Thiti said police were warned by family members that Boonma had received training in shooting.
Thiti called a back-up commando police team from the Arintharaj 26 unit at 1.58am.
Two ambulances were on standby at the scene at 3.20am after a police negotiator tried in vain to convince Boonma to lay down his gun and surrender.
At 5am, police told residents in the neighbourhood to stay in their houses as they would be raiding Boonma’s house after negotiations failed.
At around 5.21am, police fired two shots into the house and fired three teargas canisters inside. After dozens of gunfire, mostly from the police side, they entered the house at 5.51am and found Boonma’s body.
