A man accused of shooting at two policemen on a routine patrol and seriously wounding one of them in Samae Dam area of Bangkok's Bang Khun Thian district on Sunday night was arrested on Monday.
Pol Col Samroeng Ponrod, chief of Samae Dam police station, identified the man as Pitipol Kongthavorn, 26, of Samut Sakhon.
The man confessed to shooting the policeman, according to the police station chief.
On Sunday night, Mr Pitipol fled on his motorcycle from a PTT petrol station on Rama 2 road after being approached by Pol Sen Sgt Maj Kriangsak Kongchaem and Pol Sgt Maj Nathaporn Sriwiset for a search.
He stopped at a Susco petrol station about 500 metres away, and looked like he was waiting to be searched.
When the two policemen walked up to him, he opened fire at them with a handgun, hitting Pol Sen Sgt Maj Kriangsak in the neck and the chest, although he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, and wounding him seriously.
Mr Pitipol said he had acted out of sudden fear because he was released from prison only in October last year after serving four years on drug charges. He said he carried the gun to protect himself from a rival.
After the shooting, the man fled into a shrimp pond and hid the handgun in the mud. He was later intercepted and arrested at the mouth of Soi Samae Dam 5. The handgun was later retrieved by Por Teck Tung Foundation workers.