Gunman kills Thai local official at work as country reels from school shooting

A gunman was arrested after firing shots at a local government office on the outskirts of Thailand‘s capital on Monday, officials said, just days after a teenager’s killing rampage at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control.

BANGKOK — A gunman killed a Thai official inside a local government office outside Bangkok on Monday, authorities said, days after a teenager’s shooting spree at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control.

Police said the suspect, former lawmaker Chalong Riewrang, fired at the chairman of the Provincial Administrative Organization in Nonthaburi, which borders Bangkok, because of a disagreement over borrowed money.

Shooting at Thailand school leaves multiple dead

“The motive was personal,” Police Lieutenant General Wattana Yijin told reporters, adding that the provincial official’s driver was also wounded but is not in a critical state.

The official later died of his wounds at Nonthaburi’s Phra Nang Klao Hospital, its director Dr. Sakol Sookprome told Reuters.