A man who opened fire on Wednesday from his window in Thailand’s Phetchaburi province and killed three people was killed in a shootout with police early Thursday morning.
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Anuwat Lemthong, 29, began firing a 9mm pistol at people on the street near his home in the Krung Phet Villa cottage community in Phetchaburi province around 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon. The man killed three people: two fourth-year students of the local pedagogical institute, who arrived on a motorcycle to a neighboring house, and a pickup truck driver of a delivery service.
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The police, who had surrounded the house and had been trying all day the day before to persuade Lemthong to surrender, launched an assault at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. During a shootout with policemen on the second floor, the offender was killed.
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During the siege of the house, Lemthong wounded three others: first the head of the district administration, a former policeman who came to negotiate with him, then an officer of the police special forces detachment, who arrived at the scene on Wednesday evening, and a local resident who drove past Lemthong’s house to his house in the same village.
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Police officers, including Chief of Phetchaburi Provincial Police Major General Phithi Narykhatphichai and Chief of Thailand’s 7th Police Region Lieutenant General Thanayut Wutthicharatdamrong, repeatedly tried to persuade the man to surrender during the siege, the newspaper reported. Around midnight, Deputy Commander of the National Police of Thailand General Tosak Sukwimon and Assistant Commander General Samran Nuanma arrived at the scene, and later decided to storm.
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So far, nothing is known about the reasons for the criminal’s behavior, the newspaper informs. The investigation on Thursday began to study the circumstances of the last days of his life. It has already been established that in 2020, Lemthong served as a forest ranger for six months in 2020 (the forest conservation and anti-poaching service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Thailand), did not work after his dismissal, and that he was a participant in a civil lawsuit, the details of which were not disclosed .
