Thailand’s rising body count reveals a nation unable to curb gun crime

Thailand’s rising body count reveals a nation unable to curb gun crime The recent school shooting and killing of an official have raised the tally to 12 in three weeks in the tiny province of Nonthaburi alone On Monday morning, a former MP for Nonthaburi fired four rounds at a local official inside a car – then calmly strode away, the pistol tucked back into his belt. Police Colonel Thongchai Yenprasert was shot over an alleged money dispute by 71-year-old Chalong Riewrang, a three-time lawmaker with deep political influence, who then called a television host to confess his alleged crime. Thongchai, 71, was the 12th victim of gun killings in under three weeks in Nonthaburi alone, a small province of a quarter of a million people just outside Bangkok. On July 21, a young man was gunned down by a masked gunman on a motorbike in Pak Kret. A week later, a former bank manager killed two relatives and injured four others in a bullet-strewn dispute over land.