NAKHON SAWAN — Police arrested a 54-year-old monk at a Muang district temple after he shot dead a teenage girl with whom he had a secret relationship.
Police were called to inspect the body of a 15-year-old girl in front of sermon hall of Wat Wang Pai in tambon Nakhon Sawan Tok at 8.30am on Monday. Parts of the girl's head and chest were riddled with bullet holes and a spent shell from a homemade shotgun was found at the crime scene, said Muang district investigator Pongthep Promdee.
The alleged gunman was identified as Phra Porn, or Fon Minglek, who had entered monkhood for 18 years and is a distant relative with the slain girl's mother.
An investigation found Phra Porn had had a love affair with the girl and given her monthly expenses a few years ago. The pair had a fierce argument only a day before the shooting. The monk met the girl who came to the temple with her father to help in an annual religious event this morning and tried to talk to her to settle their problem but she refused. He then took out the weapon hidden in his living quarter and shot her in the fit of rage, Pol Lt Col Pongthep said.
Phra Porn was disrobed and arrested. He allegedly confessed to killing the girl after she recently tried to distance herself from him.