The wife of the chairman of a tambon administration organisation (TAO) was found dead in a car at the car park of a department store in Muang district of this Central province east of Bangkok on Saturday afternoon, police said.
The discovery of the death was reported to Muang police at about 4pm.
Pol Maj Gen Vinai Nucha, the provincial police chief, led a team of police to the scene to investigate. They were accompanied by a doctor from Chao Phraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital.
They found the woman, 38, dead on the back seat of a BMW car with a gunshot wound to the head. The bullet had entered through the right side of the temple and exited from the left.
It then pierced the left rear window of the car and grazed the neck of a man who happened to be passing by. The man was rushed to hospital for treatment and was later declared safe.
An 11mm pistol and a spent cartridge were found on the seat to the right of the body. It was believed she shot herself in the head with the gun.
The body was sent to Chao Phraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital for an autopsy.
Pol Maj Gen Vinai said the woman was the wife of Lertsak Subutdee, 38, chairman of the Non Hom TAO. They were married for eight years, but had no children.
Mr Lertsak told police that he and his wife had gone shopping in the department store. While having coffee, the wife asked to go off by herself to buy something and told him she would wait for him in the car.
Shortly afterwards he followed her to the car and discovered her body, he said.
Police were continuing the investigation to establish the cause of death although the woman was said to have suffered from depression.
