Bangkok, Mar 15 (EFE).- Thai police on Wednesday detained an armed former officer, who allegedly suffers from mental problems, after more than 24 hours barricaded in a house on the outskirts of Bangkok and after shooting several times at agents, local media reported.
A special police command broke into the residence of the armed man around noon, who suffered unspecified injuries during the arrest and was taken to a hospital, according to newspaper Khaosod.
According to official information, there have been no fatalities or other injuries from this event.
The incident began Tuesday morning in the Sai Mai district, in the northwest of the Thai capital, when the 51-year-old ex-policeman began shooting into the air and at random homes.
Upon the arrival of the first officers, who were seeking to calm down his ex-companion and transfer him to a mental health hospital, the man also attacked them, Khaosod wrote.
Authorities called for reinforcements and deployed a strong operation, which included special units, to cordon off the street where the man was, in addition to evacuating his neighbors.
At noon on Wednesday, police launched several stun bombs at the gunman’s residence and finally entered the house to arrest him.
In recent years there have been several armed incidents perpetrated by police and military in Thailand.
In October 2022, a former police officer expelled for drug matters killed 36 people, including 24 children aged 5 or younger, in a small hamlet in the northeast of the country, before committing suicide, in one of the world’s worst attacks on an educational center.
Meanwhile, in February 2020, a heavily armed soldier killed 29 people and injured more than 50 at various points in the town of Nakhon Ratchasima, some 250 kilometers from Bangkok, including a popular shopping center, until he was shot down.
These incidents have prompted several politicians to call for urgent reform of the laws that allow the possession of firearms in Thailand. EFE
nc/lds
