Bangkok Post – Dispute over pets escalates to murder and suicide

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

At around 7:30 a.m., police were called to a housing estate in Tambon Khlong Sam. They found two bodies, one of which was Colonel Jaruchart Jarupan, 64, and the other Saowagul Sasadoh, 53. The woman's 30-year-old son was also injured, with a gunshot wound to his left hand.

Witnesses told police that the retired soldier and his neighbor had been arguing for some time and that they had argued again over their fence that morning. The man then went into the house. He reappeared with a 9mm pistol, went to the woman's house and shot her several times.

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

The colonel was found dead outside their gate with a gunshot wound to his left temple and a bullet exit wound to his right temple, police said.

Anothai Jarupan, the deceased pensioner's 63-year-old wife, said her husband and their neighbor had been arguing over their pets for about six months. She saw her husband take his gun and walk away, and then heard many gunshots. She ran outside and saw her husband shoot himself in the head.

Kritin Natawin, the son of the woman killed, said he rushed to the front of the house when he heard the first shots and that the colonel shot him as soon as he saw him. He was hit in the hand.

He said the dispute between the two families began after the retired officer's adopted cat got over the fence onto his property, where they keep a dog.