Murder suspect killed in shoot out
The suspect in a shooting at a party in Nakhon Pathom province on September 6 that killed one highway police officer and injured another was shot dead by police in the early hours of Friday (September 8) in Kanchanaburi province.
Officials of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) tracked Thananchai Manmak, for whom an arrest warrant for murder was issued on September 7, to an abandoned building in Tha Reu district.
The suspect reportedly fired at officials and tried to escape in a pickup truck, prompting police to return fire. He was later found dead from gunshot wounds next to the truck with a handgun by his side.
Witnesses saw Thananchai fire multiple shots at Pol. Maj. Siwakorn Saibua, an inspector with Highway Police’s 2nd command, while he was attending the party at the house of Praween Chankhlai, a subdistrict headman in Nakhon Pathom’s Muang district.
The bullets also injured Pol. Lt. Col. Wasin Phanpee, deputy chief of Highway Police’s 2nd command.
Nakhon Pathom provincial court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for both Thananchai and Praween, the latter for hiring a person to kill others.
Investigators believe that Praween ordered Thananchai, who is known to be his right-hand man, to kill Siwakorn in retaliation for Siwakorn’s refusal to arrange a promotion for Praween’s nephew who is also a police officer.
Praween reportedly hosted the party on Wednesday and invited senior police officers in the area so that he could get to know them.
Praween turned himself in on Thursday and was put in a holding cell at the Crime Suppression Division. He denies the charges.
The case has caught the attention of Deputy National Police Chief Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, who ordered a swift investigation of 21 police officers attending the party.
Surachate believes that there was an attempt to destroy the evidence, including blood being wiped off the floor. CCTV footage of the incident has also gone missing.
