KHON KAEN - A Myanmar patient was shot dead while awaiting surgery at a public hospital in Muang district in the early hours of Friday.
The shooting took place at Khon Kaen Hospital’s male surgery building, said Pol Col Yotsawat Kaewsuebthanyanit, chief of Muang district police. The incident was reported to police about 1am.
Police and forensic officials rushed to the scene and found Kyaw Swar Aong, 29, with a gunshot wound to his occipital bone in the skull inside a ward on the fifth floor. Hospital staff moved him to the emergency ward for treatment, but he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
His Thai girlfriend, who declined to be named, said her boyfriend was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday after a tumour was detected in his back. He was awaiting surgery before the shooting.
The couple worked at a fishing net factory in Khon Kaen. They had been in relationship for more than four years and lived together in a rented room in this northeastern province. She insisted he had no problems with anyone. She only learned that he had borrowed 12,000 baht from his fellow worker at the same factory, giving his ATM card to the creditor as a guarantee for the loan.
A medical team was due to perform surgery to remove his tumour on Friday, said the woman.
According to Pol Col Yotsawat, the gunman pretended to be a visitor and asked a nurse about the patient's ward. Upon entering the ward, the gunman fired a shot at the patient and immediately fled.
"Police are examining closed-circuit television footage and coordinating with an investigation team to find clues about the suspect, especially a Myanmar national working in the same factory who disappeared and is believed to have fled to another place," said Pol Col Yotsawat.
Pol Col Yotsawat Kaewsuebthanyanit, chief of Khon Kaen's Muang district police, shows a screenshot from CCTV footage of the gunman who shot dead a patient in a hospital ward in Khon Kaen. Police offer a 10,000-baht cash reward for information leading to his arrest. (Photo: Chakkrapan Natanri)