Urinating diner drove neighbour to kill food shop owner

Kullacha Paenthong (red T-shirt) is taken to Muang police station in Lampang late Thursday night following the shooting at a neighbour's food shop in which the shop owner and a male customer were killed and two others wounded. (Photo by Aswin Wongnorkaew)

LAMPANG - A neighbour arrested for shooting dead two people at a small restaurant has told police he was infuriated by the noise from the shop and customers urinating outside his house.

Kullacha Paenthong, 30, of Lampang, was arrested at a dormitory room in neighbouring Lamphun province for shooting dead the owner and a customer at Kham Moei food shop, and wounding the husband and son, in Lampang's Muang district in the early hours of Thursday.

Police also seized four guns and many rounds of ammunition from the room before taking him to Muang police station in Lampang.

Pol Col Nikhom Kreunopparat, chief of Muang police station, said on Friday that Mr Kullacha confessed to the fatal shooting.

He said he was made angry by the frequent noise from intoxicated customers and loud music from the food shop. Worse still, male customers often urinated in front of his house, opposite the shop.

He had told the shop’s owner several times about the problem, but nothing improved. This had led to frequent quarrels between him and the shop’s owner.

Before the fatal shooting, one customer had a pee in front of his mother, who was cutting grass in front of his house. This made him finally lose all patience and he stormed over to the shop shortly after midnight and started shooting, he told police.

His rampage led to the death of Charan Na Lampang, 54, a customer and Moei Thaobunruang, 53, the owner of the shop. Mrs Moei's husband Nareunart Thaobunruang, 49, and their son Kritsana, 34, were also shot and seriously wounded.

Police planned to take him back to the crime scene for a re-enactment on Friday.