Wife shot dead after demanding divorce

BANGKOK: An Army officer shot his wife to death in an Udon Thani department store after they argued about his alleged adultery, police said on Friday.

Sgt-Major 1st class Pichet Chumboonchoo, 41, was found lying on the floor of a branch of Makro with chest wounds, five metres 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. Someone at the scene attempted cardiac resuscitation on Sirinporn but it was in vain and she was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Her seven-year-old niece and a 32-year-old store woman also required treatment after 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.

Sirinporn had then left him to live with her relatives in Udon Thani.

Pichet followed her to ask for 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 but it did not seem to have been intentional and happened after he encountered some problems with his gun. - The Nation/Asia News Network