Bangkok shooting suspect gets death sentence in student rivalry case

The Bangkok South Criminal Court on Friday sentenced Anawin Kaewkeb to death for the fatal shooting of a vocational student and a teacher in Bangkok’s Khlong Toei district on November 11, 2023. 

Anawin, 20, a student from Pathumwan Institute of Technology, rode pillion on a motorcycle before dismounting and shooting Thanasorn Hongsawat, a 19-year-old first-year student at Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok Uthenthawai Campus, police said. The attack took place in front of the Khlong Toei branch of TMBThanachart Bank on Sunthon Kosa Road.

A stray bullet also hit Sirada Sinprasert, a 45-year-old computer teacher at Sacred Heart Convent School, who was withdrawing money from a nearby ATM. Both victims died from their injuries.

The court has also ordered Anawin to pay 6 million baht in compensation to the families of the deceased. 

Police arrested 22 suspects in connection with what is believed to be a revenge attack stemming from a feud between rival students of two vocational institutes in Bangkok, with the teacher being unintended collateral damage. 

Anawin was arrested at a hideout in Chiang Mai province on December 19, 2023.