A 58-year-old male fugitive, who allegedly gunned down three people in Nong Bua Lamphu province yesterday, surrendered today after nearly 30 hours on the run.
The man, only identified as “Samart”, is a native of the area, which enabled him to evade the police manhunt and escape to Loei’s Banklang district.
Since the shooting, police and local volunteers had been combing the area, but were unable to locate him. They surrounded a hill, where they believed Samart's was at night, but without success.
This morning, however, Samart contacted his wife, expressing his intention to surrender and hand over his firearm because he was starving. Police brought him food and escorted him down from the hill.
The police investigation revealed that one of the victims was a handicapped man, who frequently asked Samart to withdraw money from an ATM for him.
When the government issued 10,000 baht cash payments, Samart allegedly withdrew the money but refused to hand it to the disabled victim.
When the victim demanded the money, Samart reportedly became enraged and shot him and his daughter, who happened to be present. The father died at the scene, while the daughter was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Samart then shot a third victim, a nearby village security guard, before fleeing on a motorcycle.
An initial, but incorrect report suggested that the attack occurred after the victims had refused to repay money they had borrowed from Samart.
