Bangkok Post – Squabble over pets escalates to murder, suicide

PATHUM THANI:  A months-long dispute over two pets, a dog and a cat, culminated in a retired army  officer shooting dead his neighbour and then ending his own life,  in Khlong Luang district on Monday morning.

Police were called to a housing estate in tambon Khlong Sam about 7.30am. They found two bodies, one Col Jaruchart Jarupan aged 64, and the other Saowagul Sasadoh, 53. The woman’s 30-year-old son was also injured, with a bullet wound to his left hand.

Witnesses told police the army retiree and his woman neighbour had a long running dispute and had argued again over their fence that morning. The man then went inside. He re-emerged with a 9mm pistol, walked over to the woman’s house and shot her repeatedly.

She was hit by five bullets – in her left cheek and abdomen, right hand and arm, police said.

The colonel was found dead in front of her gate with a gunshot wound in his left temple and a bullet exit wound in the right temple, police said.

Anothai Jarupan, the dead retiree’s 63-year-old wife, said her husband and their neighbour had been arguing for about six months over their pets. She saw her husband collect his firearm and leave and then heard many gunshots. She ran outside and saw her husband fire a shot into his own head.

Kritin Natawin, the slain woman’s son, said he rushed to the front of the house after hearing the initial gunshots, and the colonel shot at him as soon as he saw him. He was hit in the hand.

He said the dispute between the two families started after the retired officer’s adopted cat crossed their fence into his property, where they keep a pet dog.