Ex-MP Chalong Riewraeng Held After Nonthaburi Shooting Death
Thongchai Yenprasert, provincial administrative chief, dies after attack amid heightened regional gun violence concerns.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Callum Smith
A prominent provincial official has died following a shooting at a local government office in Nonthaburi province, Thailand.
The attack, outside the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation office in Muang district, Nonthaburi, left the victim's driver with injuries to the arm and hand.
Former MP Chalong Riewraeng claimed responsibility for the shooting, which is understood to have stemmed from a disagreement over borrowed money.
Chalong Riewraeng contacted political commentator Anchalee Paireerak during her YouTube livestream to confess to the incident.
Did he die? Did he die? You shot him in the head? You need to wait there for the cops. Don't go anywhere.
Paireerak pressed him, asking, "Did he die? Did he die? You shot him in the head? You need to wait there for the cops. Don't go anywhere."
The incident unfolds as Nonthaburi police were already on high alert following a recent school shooting in the same region that resulted in at least nine deaths.
Thai premier Anutin Charnvirakul had previously ordered tougher enforcement against individuals carrying guns in public after that school massacre.
CCTV footage reportedly shows Mr Chalong firing from close range, though he claims he did not intend to shoot Thongchai Yenprasert.
Chalong Reawraeng stated that Thongchai Yenprasert was 'angry' at him; local media indicated a personal dispute between the two.
Police and Chalong Reawraeng both claim the former MP had gone to Thongchai Yenprasert to ask for money he had lent him years earlier.
Chalong Reawraeng claims Thongchai Yenprasert refused to hear him out and pushed him, stating, "He [Thongchai] then pushed me, saying 'I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk.'"
The former MP further claimed, "When I pulled the gun out, I didn't intend to shoot him. But then [Thongchai's driver] pulled his gun out and pointed it at me, so I fired."