A local police officer surrendered to authorities on Saturday in connection with the fatal shooting of a patient at a hospital in Khon Kaen.

The gunman reportedly confessed that he shot the 29-year-old Myanmar man because he was disturbing his father, who was in the next bed at Khon Kaen Hospital.

Pol Sgt Veeraphong Buayen, 34, turned himself in to Khon Kaen police at 9.30am.

“The suspect confessed to have shot the Myanmar worker whom he had not known before,” the police commander said. “He had just met the victim for the first time and felt that the man had an agitated manner that he didn’t like. This drove him to fire a shot in the head. He said he didn’t known why he had done it.”

The officer earlier contacted police and reportedly admitted to having gunned down Kyaw Swar Aong, 29, at the hospital on Thursday night.  

Police found the victim with a gunshot wound to his head inside a ward on the fifth floor. Hospital staff took him to the emergency ward but he died shortly afterward.

A source familiar with the investigation said Pol Sgt Veeraphong was suffering from depression and heart disease. He was also known to have used drugs, said the source.