Thai Soldier Shoots and Kills his Wife and then Accidentally Kills Himself in Makro Store in North Eastern Thailand

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UDON THANI – Police in Udon Thani have reported that a Thai soldier has shot and killed his wife in a packed department store after they argued about his alleged adultery, police said on Friday.

When police arrived at the the scene they found 41- year-old Sgt-Major 1st class Pichet Chumboonchoo, lying dead on the floor of Makro supermarket with chest wounds, five meters from his wife, 40-year-old Sirinporn Chumboonchoo, who had been shot three times in the back.

A 9mm automatic pistol and some bullets were also found at the scene.

Security guards at the scene attempted CPR on Ms.Sirinporn however it was in vein as she was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Her seven-year-old niece and a 32-year-old store clerk also required treatment for injuries, as both were shot in the ankle.

The shooting sparked chaotic scenes in the store as staff pushed trolleys to help take the injured to ambulances.

Pol Col Poomiwit Wetchkama said on Friday they had interviewed Sirinporn’s relatives, who believed the Kanchanaburi-based soldier had got into an argument with his wife after she accused him of committing adultery with another woman.

Ms. Sirinporn had then left him to live with her relatives in Udon Thani. Pichet followed her to ask for a reconciliation but she turned him down and had recently told her husband she wanted a divorce.

Witnesses said that Pichet had shot himself in the chest accidentally after he encountered some problems with his gun.

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday passed amendments to the firearms law which ban foreigners living in Thailand from having and using guns.

The violent gun death rate in Thailand is more than TWICE as high as that of the United States, according to a US network of public radio broadcasters.

NPR ran the data from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation after the recent mass shootings in California, and found Thailand had 7.48 violent gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2013.

That’s over twice the gun death rate in the US, which had 3.55 deaths per 100,000 people in the same year.

Thailand also has the highest gun death rate in Asia, the data shows.

Source: The Nation, Bangkok Coconuts