KHON KAEN: A local police officer surrendered to authorities on Saturday in connection with the fatal shooting of a patient at a public hospital in Muang district.
The gunman reportedly confessed that he shot the 29-year-old Myanmar man because he was upset with the latter disturbing his father, who was receiving treatment in the next bed at Khon Kaen Hospital.
Pol Sgt Veeraphong Buayen, 34, attached to the Phra Yuen station in Khon Kaen, turned himself in at the Khon Kaen provincial police office at 9.30am.
Pol Maj Gen Anuwat Suwannaphum, commander of the Khon Kaen police, said on Saturday afternoon that the suspect appeared stressed and confused, but admitted to having shot the victim.
“The suspect confessed to have shot the Myanmar worker whom he had not known before,” he 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 investigators and reportedly admitted to having gunned down Kyaw Swar Aong, 29, at the hospital on Thursday night.
The shooting was reported to local police at about 1am on Friday.
Police and forensic officials found the victim with a gunshot wound to the occipital bone in his skull inside a ward on the fifth floor. Hospital staff took him to the emergency ward for treatment but he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
A preliminary investigation showed that Pol Sgt Veeraphong had worked at the Waeruwan police station before moving three years ago to the station in Phra Yuen district, his birthplace. The victim worked at a fishing net factory that was in the area served by the Waeruwan station.
A source familiar with the investigation said Pol Sgt Veeraphong was suffering from depression and coronary artery disease. He was also known to have used drugs, said the source.
The officer’s immediate superior transferred him from investigations to a duty officer’s position in the station to reduce his stress.
Pol Maj Gen Anuwat and other senior officers interrogated Pol Sgt Veeraphong on Saturday after his father took him to surrender to police. No reporters were allowed inside during the questioning.
The Khon Kaen chief said relatives told police that Pol Sgt Veeraphong was visiting his father, who was receiving medical treatment at Khon Kaen Hospital and was in the bed next to the victim in Building 5. The latter was awaiting a transfer to Building 6 for surgery.
The relatives believed the suspect might have heard his father complaining about the Myanmar patient disturbing him so that he could not sleep. The suspect then walked to Building 6, where he found Kyaw Swar Aong and fired a single shot, killing the victim in his bed, said Pol Maj Gen Anuwat.
The suspect has been charged with premeditated murder and illegal possession of a weapon and ammunition.
The victim’s Thai girlfriend, identified only as Manee, said on Saturday that she never thought a law enforcer would commit such a crime.
Discussing the claim that the victim had disturbed the suspect’s father, she admitted her boyfriend liked playing games on his mobile phone until late, and it might have disturbed others. However, the suspect should not have resorted to such violent action, she said.
Pol Sgt Veeraphong Buayen was seen on camera at a public hospital in Khon Kaen province on Thursday. (Screenshot)