A man has been arrested in Chon Buri after a policeman was shot dead as he approached a group of people drinking alcohol at a petrol station in Suphan Buri early Monday morning.
Sitthiphong Jasa-ard, 23, of Suphan Buri’s Muang district, was apprehended by police iat an apartment room in Sri Racha district of Chon Buri late on Monday night, said Pol Lt Gen Torsak Sukwimol, chief of the Central Investigation Bureau.
He was charged with the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Pol Snr Sgt Maj Charnwit Ditcharoen of Suphan Buri police.
Pol Snr Sgt Maj Charnwit, 52, was shot at a PTT petrol station in tambon Suan Taeng, Suphan Buri, in the early hours of Monday as he went up to a group of young men who were drinking alcohol in a gathering in contravention of Covid-19 controls.
One of the drinkers fired shots at him.
A .38 calibre bullet struck the back of his head, inflicting a grievous wound. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police investigators concluded the shooter was Mr Sitthiphong, one of the men who was drinking at the petrol station.
Mr Sitthiphong was arrested at a relative’s second-floor apartment room. He allegedly admitted having fired the fatal shot at the officer, and said he was drunk at the time.
After the shooting, he hid the gun at his house and fled to Samut Sakhon, before taking a public van to go to his elder sister’s place in Sri Racha, he said.
She was not at home, so he went to stay at another relative’s apartment room, where he was caught.
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